


And Green Tea

by greenteatrashbaby



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: D is for deeeeeeez nuts, Dating, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fingering, First Dates, First Times, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kisses, More fluff than danny's dumb head, Oral Sex, Other shit probably, SO MUCH FLUFF, Smut, Swearing, Vaginal Sex, close rick-counters, literally the fluffiest fluff in the universe, sweet sweet kisses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-04-06 09:58:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4217310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenteatrashbaby/pseuds/greenteatrashbaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You finally managed to snag an editing gig and can quit your horrible day job as a waitress you've been stuck with for a year and a half. But when a regular at the diner becomes a coworker, you find yourself struggling to focus.</p><p>A long haul fic of Danny and you flirting, dating, falling in love, and coping with life's unfair circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Is That Actually A Question?

The sea of rejection emails were getting a little unsettling, at this point. You had sent dozens of emails with links to your work to different Craigslist postings calling out for editors - full time, part time, assistant and head - with either no response or short emails saying “thanks, but no thanks.” They had already filled the position or were too pretentious to allow someone without a college degree into their office.

You sat back down at your desktop with a bowl of fruity yogurt and mug of green tea, refreshing your email and three tabs of Craigslist postings. After taking a bite, you saw a new email in your inbox. Sighing, you clicked it, ready to read about how while you were very talented, you’re not quite what we’re looking for, thanks for your application and time, sorry we don’t want you.

Quickly scanning the text, you blinked once, then reread it out loud.

“Thank you so much for responding and sending your reel, I love your style and would love to meet you for an interview!” You jumped out of your chair and fist pumped, giggling and running around in circles. You slammed back into your seat to read the rest of the email. “As you may have read in the listing, I’m looking for someone who can edit YouTube videos. Up until now I’ve been editing all my own videos, and while I love it, it’s a lot of work between my two channels and all the organisational things I do for my husband’s business. I would like to be able to spend more time on my other hobbies/work. From what your reel showed, it looks like you really know what you’re doing and have just the sensibility I’ve been looking for. Thanks again for responding and either call me or shoot me another email to set up a meeting!”

You couldn’t believe it. How long had you been looking for work? Well, good work. You’d been waitressing at a diner since you moved to LA, but it was hardly what you wanted to do for the rest of your life. You’d been working so hard, building up a portfolio of art, video, and animation - all on top of working full time and living off of tips. It had been a hard couple of years, but you had gotten a few contract gigs along the way that helped pay your way to an updated desktop computer to help. And now, it seemed that all that work was finally paying off.

Don’t get ahead of yourself, you thought. This - you paused to read the signature on the email - Suzy had only said she was interested in meeting you. That didn’t mean you got the job. You looked at the time on your computer and noted that you had to leave for your job at the diner in a little over half an hour. Quickly scarfing down your yogurt, you typed up an email listing days and times you’d be available for meeting and shot it into cyber space. You sipped at your tea and rushed into your bathroom to get ready for work.

 

"Take a seat, I’ll help you as soon as I can!”

You grabbed a pot of coffee and rushed a plate of pancakes to a booth, topping up their mug while you were there. On your way back to your station, you filled a few more mugs, took an order, and grabbed a menu, handing it to the man that just took a seat at the counter. He smiled and thanked you. He was a regular, and you could probably guess what he was going to order, but he always looked over everything before ordering anyways.

You filled a glass of water and slid it in front of him. “How’ve ya been? I haven’t seen you in for a while.”

“You weren’t working the past couple times I’ve come in. Quite the disappointment, if you ask me.” He looked up from his menu to give you a sly grin. “But well. Keeping busy.”

You laughed and apologized. “I can relate, though. Have you decided yet?”

“Yeah, I’ll have the hobo scramble with an onion bagel instead of toast.” He placed the menu where you could easily grab it on your way around the counter.

“And green tea?” You asked as you wrote his usual order on a ticket.

He gave you a sheepish smile. “And green tea.”

“Comin’ right up, hon.” You spun around to put the ticket on the window to the kitchen and rang the bell.

You saw this guy at least once a week. You remember being vaguely infatuated with him the first few times he came in, and hoping he’d come in more so you could learn his name. Fast forward about four months and you still didn’t know his name, but you knew he was in the entertainment industry, wrote music, liked his hair in his face, and shared your weird addiction to green tea. He was always wearing one of two pairs of ripped jeans, some kind of heavy jacket, and t-shirts that you sometimes noticed had his likeness (Was it him? It looked like him) printed on. You were pouring him some hot water over a tea bag when you silently wondered if his usual outfits would change now that it was getting warmer out.

A couple took a seat in a booth by the door. You poured two glasses of water and tucked the menu under your arm. You grabbed another one on your way to the table and gave them a minute to look. When you were back on the other side of the counter, you looked up at the clock and saw it was just about 10 am. You quickly cleared a spot that had been occupied, tucked the check into your apron, and wiped down the counter. You felt yourself kicking into autopilot, filling glasses of water and taking orders without thinking. Hearing the bell ring at the window, you quickly finished writing up a ticket and headed around the counter. Placing the ticket on the counter and grabbing the plate of eggs, you put them in front of the tall man sipping at his tea and reading something on his phone. He looked pleased as you put Tobasco on the counter next to his plate.

“You always know exactly what I need,” he said, locking his phone and picking up the knife to spread cream cheese on his bagel. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” you responded, beaming. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Will do, ma’am.”

 

Your knuckles were white against the wheel of your light blue 2006 Honda Civic. It was parked outside of a coffee shop that Suzy - your possible employer - had asked you to meet her at. To put it frankly, you were nervous. The clock told you that it was ten minutes before the time she had given. You took a deep breath. Grabbing your purse and the RT Surface your parents had gifted you for Christmas the year before, you opened the door and walked to the entrance.

The cafe wasn’t unfamiliar. You generally didn’t drink a lot of coffee, but you were known to stop by for a caffeine kick on the way to work on particularly hard mornings. You scanned the shop and spotted a couple sitting at one of the tables. The woman fit the description you were sent earlier that day and you felt your heart rate double. Another deep breath and you headed over.

You cleared your throat quietly. “Hi, Suzy Berhow?”

The woman looked up and smiled wide. “Hi!” They both stood as she shook your hand. “I’m Suzy, and this is my husband, Arin.”

He smiled as he took your hand. “Nice to meet you. Suzy hasn’t stopped talking about you.”

You could feel your face getting red as you introduced yourself. “Th-thanks! Nice to meet you too.” You glanced towards the counter. “I’m actually a little early, do you mind if I grab something real quick?”

“Oh, no problem,” Suzy said as they took their seats again. She picked up her own paper cup. “Gotta get that buzz, right?”

You laughed lightly and said you’d be right back. Once at the counter you paid for a large green tea and steadied your breath. The part you were most nervous for was over. You met them. They seemed nice. They definitely weren’t old perverts. In fact, they looked like a very kindhearted modern couple. Suzy was gorgeous, you decided. She had very striking eyes, which she definitely knew how to frame. It became painfully obvious that you were a preteen when it came to your knowledge of makeup once you saw her. Arin seemed a little dorky, with his Sailor Moon t-shirt (which definitely didn’t go unnoticed by you) and scraggly beard. It also looked like they had matching blonde streak in their hair, which was pretty adorable.

The barista called out your name and you thanked him. Tablet under your arm and tea in hand, you slid into the seat across from the couple.

“I’m so excited!” Suzy said. “I totally fell in love with your reel. Did you have anything else you could show us?”

You nodded and flipped the cover of your tablet off, tapping to your video folder that you had spent two hours organising and reorganising that morning. “This is a comedy sketch I was commissioned to edit about five months ago. If you look at this,” you turned the screen towards them to display the video. They both leaned in and Arin threw an arm over the back of Suzy’s chair. “This is the raw footage. So you can see that the lighting is pretty solid but the colors are washed out.” You then navigated to another video. “This is the final.”

“Oh wow, that looks way better,” Suzy said quietly. They watched intently as you nervously tapped your fingers on your paper cup, unsure what to do with your hands. You were almost startled when they laughed at one of the jokes. “So how much input did the director have on your editing?”

“Uh, they only gave me a few directions,” you said, scratching your skull. “Pretty much gave me the script and told me the framing was a little off to his liking and let me go. So I did some color correction, added a couple lighting effects, zoomed in on a few shots so the framing wasn’t weird, and of course all the cutting, text, sound mixing, and background music. Mostly just basic stuff. There were a few iterations and notes before we got the final, but it came out pretty alright.”

“How long did it take you?”

“Less than a day. Most of the time was spent waiting for notes.”

“That’s so awesome,” Arin said, grinning.

“Isn’t it?” Suzy’s eyes were wide. “I’ve gotten a lot of applicants but you are by far the most talented. You blew everyone else out of the water.”

You blushed. “I really appreciate that. I’ve tried for a lot of long term editing gigs and haven’t gotten so much as a nibble until you emailed me.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Arin said. “You have a fantastic style. It reminds me a lot of stuff we do at the Grump Space already, right babe?”

Suzy nodded vigorously and began talking before you could question what the hell a ‘Grump Space’ was. “That’s exactly what I thought. Her comedic timing is super similar to B’s.”

“I think the main reason is that I didn’t go to college,” you said and sipped at your hot tea. “I mean, I barely graduated high school. I took a horrible digital media class back then but other than that I’m totally self trained, and that doesn’t look great on resumés.”

Arin shrugged. “No worries. I dropped out, but even if I didn’t, it wouldn’t a huge deal. We care more about what you can do now than what you’ve done in the past. I mean, literally everyone we work with is self trained.”

You smiled. “That does make feel a bit better. I was really nervous.”

“Don’t be!” Suzy cried. “This is mostly just a formality. I had to make sure you weren’t a creep or anything. Especially after hearing a little more about your process, I’m convinced you’re perfect for this job.”

“Really?” You straightened in your seat. “You’re serious?”

She looked at Arin and got an approving glance. “Absolutely. I do have a few more questions just to make sure this is gonna work for all of us, though.”

You nodded. “Anything.”

Smiling, she looked down at her notebook. “Are you willing to work full time, meaning 30-40 hours a week?”

“I already do, so no problem”

“Cool. Because of the nature of the job, it sometimes involves late nights at the office. Is that okay?”

“I’m a night owl anyways.”

“Great. Do you like playing video games?”

“...Is that actually a question?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> exposition af


	2. Phenomenal

You had been staring at the clock and wiping the same spot on the counter for you didn’t know how long. It was your last morning at the diner - thank fucking god - and you started at your brand new shiny editing job that afternoon. Granted, you weren’t going to be any editing just yet. Suzy said you guys would be spending the day sorting out the official business - signing papers, getting key cards, assigning parking spots, organizing a desk space. You heard the front door open and looked over to see Tall Dark and Illusive walk in. You smiled and put a menu at his usual seat at the counter. “Hey, I was hoping you’d come in today.”

“Miss me, honey buns?” He raised an eyebrow and smirked as he sat down. “Can’t blame you.”

You laughed and leaned forward, putting your elbows on the counter as he looked over the menu. “Today’s actually my last day.”

“What?” He looked up in disbelief. “No way. I thought once you got into waitressing there was no way out?”

“I got lucky, I guess.” You pulled a pen out of your apron.

“Damn, girl. When did this happen?”

“Between the last time you came in and today.” You counted the days. “About two weeks?”

He put down the menu. “Moving on to bigger and better things?”

You grinned and swung the pen around your thumb. “Something like that.”

“Where to, then?”

You paused and looked at him a moment. He was looking at you with genuine interest, even though you were likely never going to see each other again. You wouldn’t be caught dead in this place, and you had only ever seen him here. But there was still true curiosity plastered all over his face. Like you mattered, or something. “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you even if I tried,” you said finally. “I don’t think I’ll fully understand what I’m getting myself for a week or so.”

He treated you with a laugh. “Well, good luck, man! All the best.”

You cocked your head and smiled. “I appreciate that. Thank you.”

The front door swung open again as a group of four shuffled in.

“Hey, guys! Take a seat wherever and I’ll get right to you.” The party talked and laughed as they made their way to a booth.

“I’ll get the hobo scramble with an onion bagel instead of toast, please.” The man smiled and slid the menu to you. “And green tea.”

You grinned and wrote it up. “Comin’ right up, hon.”

 

You double checked the address Suzy had given you and compared it to what Google Maps was showing you on your phone. You looked up at the building that was beyond your car’s windshield. It was… big. Bigger than expected. The clock on your dashboard said it was 1:24. You grabbed the tote bag from the passenger seat and opened the car door.

It was a nice part of town, you thought. A lot of business complexes, but there were still trees and foliage around, not just a concrete jungle. You walked up to the front door and hit the buzzer.

Through the glass door, you saw Suzy running up and waving. She pushed the door open as you moved out of the way. “Hi! I’m glad you found us okay.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad,” you said, following her gesture to come in. She was acid wash jeans and a flowy black shirt; as she turned you saw that it had an open strappy back. Your yoga pants and raglan tee seemed a little bland. “This building is bigger than I thought it’d be.”

She nodded and led you through the lobby space towards a door. “There are two separate office spaces, and we only have one of them. But even just that is pretty spacious.” She opened the door and gestured for you to go ahead.

You bowed your head quickly and walked through. The hall led to your right, and all along the wall was shelves and shelves of video games. You felt your jaw drop slightly as you walked down the hall and scanned the shelves. There were hundreds - no, thousands - of games lining the wall.

Suzy giggled. “We play video games for a living, so we have quite the collection. People are sending us more every week.”

“That’s insane,” you said breathlessly. “There’s not enough hours in a lifetime to play all of these.”

"Yeah, I don't think we're ever going to be able to check everything off the list. But we can try."

The entire office area felt very industrial, but homey nonetheless. The far wall was brick, and there were exposed beams and ducts lining the ceiling. There were at least half a dozen desks with double (or more) monitor set ups each, couches, a tv, blankets and pillows draped over most surfaces, and various nerdy posters and memorabilia decorated the walls and shelves. The wall leading to your left was lined with modern looking counters and kitchen appliances - a coffee maker, fridge, sink, pantry… Everything needed to make long nights more bearable. Beyond that was a window into a darker room, within which you saw a light reflecting off of soundproofing foam. “I think I’m gonna like it here.”

She grinned and gave you a side hug as you walked towards the desks. “Good! This is Kevin, he’s another editor.” She leaned over and waved to catch his attention.

The darker skinned boy looked up and took off his headphones. “Hey! You’re the new editing girl, huh?”

You smiled and introduced yourself, offering your hand for a shake.

He took it and grinned. “I’d love to chat but I’ve got a bunch of stuff to get done. We’ll be spending lots of time together soon enough.”

“Yeah!” Suzy turned to you. “All of us basically live here, so we tried to make everything as comfortable as possible. It’s become a second home to us, and you’re a part of the Grump family now!”

“Oh, yeah,” you said, looking back to her. “I’ve been meaning to ask. What’s with the Grump stuff?”

“Oh, of course! Sorry, I forgot I hadn’t explained that.” She led you over to the couches and gestured for you to take a seat. You put your bag on the floor by the sofa and watched her sit beside you. “So my husband, Arin, started this channel on YouTube called Game Grumps. Him and Dan do that show, and they do the whole ‘let’s play’ thing. Danny does another show with Ross,” she paused her explanation to assure you that you’d meet everyone soon, “called Steam Train, which is for PC games. Then there’s GrumpCade and Steam Rolled, which can have an assortment of people including me and Barry...” She looked up from her fingers, which had been counting out all the names. “You keeping up?”

You nodded, looking around. You spotted some wall decorations that seemed familiar, but not from any video game you could think of; they were cartoony faces. After a moment, you realized one of them resembled Arin, and another Suzy. And one for Kevin, too! You looked at the other three and assumed they must be… You paused. One looked particularly like-

A door opened behind you. “Hey, Suzy, do we still have cookie butter somewhere?”

Frozen. You were frozen. You knew that voice. And the face on the wall. You knew him.

“Danny! More importantly, come meet my new editor!”

“Oh, crud, was that today?”

You stood up and spun around. There he was, with the same ripped jeans and band t-shirt you saw him in earlier that day at the diner.  “A hobo scramble with an onion bagel instead of toast.”

Danny. His name was Danny. And his face absolutely lit up when he saw you. “Holy shit! And green tea!”

Suzy looked between you, confused. “You know each other?”

“She’s the cute waitress at that diner over by Barry and I’s place!” He cleared his throat and put on a look of feigned - was it feigned? - embarrassment. “Well, was. And by cute, I mean professional. Very professional.” He was covering a cheeky grin.

You looked at Suzy. “This guy came in every week and got the same exact thing for four months.”

“Hey! You guys have damn good bagels.”

“Damn,” Suzy shook her head. “You’re so Jewish.”

A combination of the comment and the almost offended look on his face made you burst into laughter. His expression almost immediately changed as he got infected by your laugh, going all squinty eyed and teethy.

Oh no, you thought. He was cuter in his natural habitat.

“Oh, man,” Danny said, coming off his laughing frenzy and rubbing an eye. “Well, I’m Dan.” He reached out to shake your hand over the back of the couch.

You said your name, but your voice seemed quiet to you. Maybe it was your mind realizing that was the first time you had touched him.

“Welcome, y/n! If you’re half as talented as Suzy says, you’ll be a valued member of the family.”

You sputtered out a word of appreciation as he grinned. “I’m really excited to do work I actually enjoy.”

“What,” he started, heading to the shelves that made up the pantry. “You didn’t want to be a waitress the rest of your life?”

“It wasn’t ideal,” you admitted, plopping back down next to Suzy. “Food service isn’t the most fun career in the world.”

“I know that life,” Suzy said. You could hear the groan in her voice. “I worked at a restaurant at Disney for a couple years.”

The two of you regaled your adventures in waitressing to each other as Danny quietly spread cookie butter onto toast to make a sandwich and got a couple of water bottles. He was shuffling past with a mouth full of food when he touched a hand to your shoulder. “It’s nice to officially meet you-” A hard swallow. “-but I gotta get back to work.”

“Who’re you recording with?” Suzy asked, peeking her head higher to try and see through the window.

“Arin. Ross and B went out to eat.”

She nodded thoughtfully. "I didn't even notice they were gone."

"I think you were in the bathroom when they finished the Steam Rolled session," Danny said reassuringly. "That's when they left."

He dismissed himself and retreated into the dark room. You could hear Arin's booming voice through the momentarily open door yelling at something for being a "goddamn chode beast," if you were hearing him properly.

"Bloodborne," Suzy said - presumably to you, but seemingly to no one in particular - with her cheek propped up against her hand. "He must be practicing a battle off camera."

“That game looks insane,” you commented. “I haven’t played it, but I loved Dark Souls.”

She smiled. “You play a lot of games?”

You tucked a leg under you as you readjusted. “Not recently, too busy. I played a lot more when I lived back in BC.”

“British Columbia?” She asked, a hand slapping onto her jeans. “You’re Canadian?”

“Born and raised,” you laughed. “I spent a lot of time in the states growing up, though. Lots of vacations and weekend trips, since I was fairly close to the border.”

The two of you made more conversation for about half an hour. She learned that you had an addiction to Property Brothers and you learned the meaning behind her tattoos. Finally, Suzy stood and stretched her back.

“As lovely as this is, we should get started on settling you in.”

You nodded and stood, throwing your bag over your shoulder. “Where am I gonna be working?” You asked, eyeing all the impressive monitor set ups.

Suzy trotted over to the desks closest to the wall of games. “This is my desk,” she said, gesturing to the surface organized neatly with a small plant next to the computer. She then Vanna White’d towards the adjacent desk and used the tone of a radio announcer. “And this is your brand new car!”

You giggled and plopped into the office chair that was at least a million times more comfortable than your couch at home. Like the other desks in the office, it was L shaped and black. The computer was tucked underneath and had three monitors. The keyboard was one of those fancy Razor gaming types that you had always wanted to save up for but never had found an excuse to. With your back to the wall, it gave you a view of the rest of the room, which was oddly comforting in this new and unfamiliar space. “It’s way better than my Civic.”

Suzy grinned. “Yay! And you can decorate it however you’d like. Obviously, I’ve gone for a more minimal approach, but others go a little crazy.” She turned to the desk behind her, which was covered in figurines and action figures, ranging from cartoons to video games and back. “That’s Ross’. He likes doodads.”

The front entrance swung open. Suzy muttered something about speaking of the devil as you turned to your left towards the noise. Two men ambled in, sipping on to-go cups and chatting loudly about Marvel movies.

“Guys! Come meet y/n!”

The taller of the two looked over and grew a huge cheeky grin when he saw you. “You’re here!”

Your eyes grew wide as he shoved his drink into the other’s hand, rushed you, pulled you out of your chair, and hugged you hard. You yelped in surprise, arms now attached to your sides by his aggressive embrace.

“That’s Ross,” Suzy said. “And he’s Barry.”

You looked over Ross’ head and gave Barry a low wave, who was snickering. “Hi, guys. Nice to meet you.”

“Sorry, I got excited,” Ross said, finally letting go of you. “We don’t get new faces around here often.”

You tugged at the hem of your shirt to straighten it out. You couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Looking around the room again, you saw Kevin had taken off his headphones and was laughing.

“I got the same introduction,” he said. “Don’t let him scare you, he can smell fear.”

“It’s true,” Ross said, eyes wide and face void of a smile. “Like Grimlock.”

Your eyebrows ruffled. “Pretty sure robots can’t smell. Even if they are robot dinosaurs.”

His face lit up. “You like Grimlock!”

“I- uh…” You tried to look anywhere but his face. “Yeah. My dad has a Transformers collection?”

There were clearly visible stars in Ross’ eyes. Suzy laughed. “Holy shit, I think he fell in love.”

You looked at her, eyes wide.

“Not with you, your dad.”

“Where does he live?” Ross had his hands curled under his chin. “Can we go visit him? Can I play with his toys?”

A snort escaped you. “It’s a three hour flight, but I mean. Sure?”

He looked crestfallen. “You mean he’s not in California?”

“Do you know of a place in state that’s a three hour flight away?” Barry asked, leaning against the wall.

Ross pouted. “Man, I wanted to see y/n’s old man and all his Transformers.”

“Sorry, man.” You plopped back into your chair and spun in a circle. “Be nice and maybe I’ll talk to my dad about it.”

He squinted. “Are you being manipulative?” He looked at Suzy (who was stifling a laugh), then at Barry (who was hiding his smile), seeking answers. “Is she being manipulative?”

“Okay, buddy,” Barry said finally, chortling quietly and patting Ross on the back. “Let’s get back to work. C’mon.” He then lagged behind as Ross walked towards his desk so that he could offer you a hand to shake. “Nice to meet you. You’ll fit in just fine.”

You gave him a look of delight and returned the sentiment. Suzy then passed you a sheet of paper with initial login info for your computer and set you loose to configure it to your wishes, explaining that B - which was Barry, you realized - had installed all the programs you’d need when he set it up.

“Oh, also,” she said, looking around her monitor at you. “Do you have any social media stuff?”

You blinked. You were pretty sure you had a Twitter that someone had convinced you to make ages ago, but you didn’t remember much about it. You used Snapchat with friends, but did that count? “Not really.”

“You might wanna start. Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr...” She pulled out her phone and tapped away. “Since we work in the digital space, our online image is pretty important. You don’t have to be super prolific on it or anything, but our fans like having someone to follow.” She smiled at you. “Only if you’re comfortable with that, of course. We don’t want to force you into the limelight if you don’t want to be there.”

Nodding slowly, your gaze returned to the center monitor on your new desk. 57 of 104 updates were installed. “I’ll work on it.”

As you pulled out your phone and logged into your ancient Twitter account, you enjoyed the moment of quiet to breathe. Everyone else in the room had headphones on and were working on various things - Kevin and Barry editing, Ross was… Animating? At least it looked like flash from here. Suzy was busy responding to emails. And you? You were scrolling through all your selfies to find an image that you’d be okay with representing you when these peoples’ fanbase inevitably flocked to follow you.

This was weird, you thought. All of this was very weird. It was hardly what you were expecting when you were sending out all those emails. You really didn’t think that playing video games and having a twitter account would be so important in your line of work.

You weren’t sure how much time was passing, but you had definitely spent a good chunk configuring shortcuts in Premiere and Photoshop that you were used to and installing drivers that had understandably fallen through the cracks. You had found and edited an acceptable image of yourself, made an Instagram, and spent way too long tweaking and editing to create the perfect bio - which, in the end, you decided to scrap and just go with something simple. “Malnourished, dirty, and newly Grumped.” There was now a company email and a building key card registered with your name, and you had read over and signed several contracts that Suzy had gone over with you.You had started cruising on Reddit looking at possibilities for three monitor wallpapers when you tried one of Cat Woman, but quickly realized that the entire left screen was her ass.

The door across the room opened again, and the two tallest men in the group emerged. Arin headed to what you presumed was a restroom and Danny was stretching his arms above his head, gently resting his fingers against a metal beam. You tried very hard to not stare at the part of his tummy that was exposed.

He noticed you in your new seat and looked amused. He sauntered over and leaned against your desk. “You enjoying the new digs?”

“It’s really nice here,” you admitted. “The space is gorgeous and the people are nice.”

He dramatically flipped his hair. “Thanks.” When you laughed, he joined suit. “It’s past 6, are you hungry?”

You looked down at your phone. He was right, 6:24. Time had flown. On cue, your stomach growled.

He giggled. “I’m starving. You wanna grab a bite to eat? I promise we won’t go to your diner.”

“That…” You paused and averted your gaze to your new computer, Selina Kyle’s ass plastered all over one monitor. You hadn’t realized how much your eyes hurt until you started rubbing them. “Yeah. That would be nice.”

“Suzy, Kevin!” Danny crooned. “We are fetching sustenance. Do you wish to join?”

Kevin held up his bowl of cereal, eyes still glued to his screen, and Suzy shook her head. “I’m not very hungry. You two can go.”

Danny shrugged. “If you so wish.”

He grabbed his leather jacket off a chair nearby as you stood and gathered yourself. With your bag over your shoulder and his jacket zipped half way, you followed him out the door.

“What do you like to eat?” He asked, holding the front door open for you as it buzzed.

“Hmm,” you squinted at the blue sky. “Food, mostly.”

He exhaled sharply with a grin on his face. “Okay, smart ass. What kind of food.”

You giggled. “I dunno. I’ll eat anything, really. Vietnamese, maybe?”

“Dude!” He was leading you to his car. “I am all in on Phở. All in.”

“Is there a good place near by?” He unlocked the door and you slid in next to him. “I warn you, I am a horrific Phở snob.”

“As am I, my friend,” he countered, slotting his seat belt into place. “And there is a fantastic restaurant a few miles down the road.”

“Phenomenal.” Your seat belt also managed to find its nook right as Danny peeled out of the parking lot and towards dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dan avidan and suzy berhow star in the wildly less successful follow up to meet the fockers, meet the grumps.
> 
> PS this is ridiculous
> 
> PPS now that we all know danny's blood type is O+ universal, who's gonna write the mad max au where reader is furiosa and arin is nux and suzy is the redhead  
> is it gonna be me? please dont say it's gonna be me.


	3. It Will Only Get Better

Danny was already acting like a child and the two of you had only just ordered. He had put a pair of chopsticks in his mouth to imitate a walrus. The funniest part, you thought, was that he hadn’t even brought attention to it. He had tucked them under his lip and continued organizing his place setting, like it was what was expected of him.

Your quiet laughter had gotten slightly out of control, rousing Dan’s attention. He looked up and giggled, dropping the chopsticks out of his mouth. “What? You making fun of me?”

“No, never,” you said, covering your upper lip and trying to stifle your chortling. “I’ve always wanted to meet a walrus.”

His nose scrunched up as he laughed, putting his hands flat on the table. “Well, glad to fulfill that fantasy.” He waggled his eyebrows at you.

You hoped your cackling distracted from your hot cheeks. Was he flirting with you? Of course he was, you thought. The two of you had been vaguely flirting at each other for months now. Now that he knew your name and you worked in the same building, it would only get worse.

Was it worse though? You looked at him. His long, thin face, his fluffy hair, his t-shirt that proudly displayed an album by The Cure. No, it wasn’t worse. It was better. Much, much better.

“Wish is a great album,” you noted, pointing at his chest as you came off your laughing fit. “I listened to that a lot in high school.”

“Didn’t we all?” He asked, giving you a look that obviously said that you were like every brooding teenager in existence.

“Hey, leave me alone.” You sipped at your water. “No one else was listening to it back then. I thought I was cool as hell.”

An eyebrow raised. “How long ago was that?”

You thought a moment. “I graduated in… 2003?” You paused to count on your fingers. “Yeah. Twelve years ago.”

“Damn,” Dan said. “I’m old as shit.” He saw you looking inquisitively at him. “I was out of high school in ‘98.”

“That’s not that bad,” you said, nervously creasing the napkin in front of you. “I’m eight years older than my baby sister. Five is nothing.”

He chuckled. “Thanks for making me feel better.”

“Anytime,” you responded, beaming. “We’re co-workers now. I can’t have you feeling old whenever we hang out.”

“You’re not the worst in the office, though!” He cried. “Kevin is 24, he’s practically a baby! I’m over a decade older than him.”

“Holy shit,” you giggled. “He’s gotta be the youngest, though, right?”

“Well, yeah,” he said, fiddling with the straw in his water. “But like,” he paused to swallow. “I’m, what, seven years older than Arin? And that dudes my best friend now. It’s weird to think about how when I was in the third grade, he was still in diapers.”

You shrugged, wondering if it was appropriate to talk about this story. Your mouth started moving before you could really decide. “My ex-boyfriend was seven years older than me.”

“Really?” He looked at you with curiosity.

Nodding, you sipped your water again. This was a mistake. “I was 22 when we started dating.”

“Wow,” he said, leaning back in the booth. “I bet your parents loved that.”

“Sure did,” you said with a bitter grin. “We dated for five years though, so they got over it around the third Thanksgiving I brought him home.”

“Pretty serious, huh?”

You shrugged again. “I guess. It didn’t work out, obviously, but it was something.” You stopped, vaguely regretting talking about your ex with a cute boy. “It ended sour, but I learned a lot.”

“Good,” Danny nodded. “I’m a firm believer that all experiences are good, no matter how much they sucked.”

And on that note, your food arrived. There was a moment of silence as you both prepared your soup to eat. He liked a lot of sriracha, you noticed, and not a lot of anything else. You both took your first bites - maybe “slurps” was a better word - and you exhaled happily.

“You were right,” you said finally, swallowing your noodles. “This place is good.”

“Would I ever lie to you?”

You smile. “Sorry for bringing up an ex,” you mumbled. “It was dumb of me.”

He waved his hand to dismiss you. “We’re getting to know each other. Five years of your life, it was bound to come up.”

“We just met,” you groaned. “How embarrassing.”

“What is this, a first date?” He laughed, stirring with his chopsticks. “Chill out. No worries.”

You scrunched your face up and hid behind the noodles you were scooping out of your bowl.

“Here,” he put down his utensils and straightened in his seat. He started counting out facts on his fingers. “The longest relationship I’ve ever had is two years, I’m scared of commitment, my last girlfriend dumped me a month after she moved in with me, and the one before that broke up with me because she, and I quote, was scared she would cheat on me, and I didn’t deserve that.”

You were staring at him with red hot cheeks. “Dan, I’m so sorry.”

“That wasn’t the point of me telling you that stuff,” he promised. “The point is that everyone has a life before you meet them. Your life and experiences are important when forming who you are as a person, forming your ideals and morals and boundaries. I’m glad you could share something personal with me, so I shared something personal with you.”

You smiled sheepishly. He grinned.

“Aw, that’s adorable. You’re so blushy.”

Grabbing your glass of water, you pressed it against your right cheek. “Shut up.”

You were able to continue a very normal and comfortable conversation for the rest of the meal. Anecdotes and laughs were shared - he talked about his college experience and you talked about trying to teach your sister about Legend of Zelda at a young age. Soon a waitress came by, asking if everything was okay. You both nodded and raved about the food.

“Great! Are you two paying together, or separate?”

“Separate,” you immediately responded, trying to fish your wallet out of the pit of a bag beside you.

“No,” Danny said. You looked up. “Together.”

“Separate.”

“Together,” he insisted.

“Dan, no. Separate.”

He looked up to the waitress. “One check, please. Don’t let her fool you.”

The waitress giggled and walked away, leaving you stuttering after her. “What do you think you’re playing at, you jerk?”

He laughed. “I never let ladies pay, especially the cute ones.”

He was doing it again. Flirting with you. You stared at him incredulously.

“Think of it as a ‘Welcome to the family’ meal. My treat.”

You shook your head. His insisting didn’t stop you from trying to steal the check from him when it came, but he was ready with his card and handed it back to the waitress before it even hit the table. You huffed in defeat.

“I’m gonna remember this, Daniel.” You pouted, crossing your arms and leaning far back into your seat. “I’m like an elephant.”

“Oh, I’m scared,” he joked. “Quaking in my boots, practically.”

He finally accepted when you demanded to leave the tip. Throwing 20% on top of the bill, you stood from the booth and headed out. By the time the two of you had gotten back to the office, it was after 7. Suzy and Arin were leaving as you were walking back in.

“Hey!” Suzy smiled. “Have a nice dinner?”

Danny nodded. “This one’s funny, Suzy. You better keep her.”

“Well, I plan on it,” she said, then turned to you. “You can head home now, if you’d like. We usually start closing shop around seven. I left a schedule on your computer for the next week, and I wanted to record a game with you tomorrow for the channel.” She paused. “That’s okay, right?”

You nodded. This had been one of the things brought up in your interview; being comfortable on camera and online. You had tentatively agreed, and she said you could change your mind at any point. But if all these guys were doing it and having a good time, what could be so bad about it?

“Great! I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

“Gnight, guys,” Danny said. Him and Arin high fived, which triggered some complicated handshake. Suzy rolled her eyes and headed to her car, Arin and Danny giggling as they ended the handshake with an explosion.

“Oh, my god,” you spluttered. “You are children.”

“Later, y/n!” Arin waved and trotted after his wife. You waved back and sniggered, backing up towards the building.

“That was adorable,” you said, turning towards the door and pulling your keycard out of your bag. “You guys are adorable.”

Danny flipped his hair dramatically, then pushed it out of his face. “Thanks.”

Your face contorted horribly as you cackled, pulling the door open. “God, this is so much greater than waitressing already.”

He nudged your arm with his elbow as you walked, side by side. “It will only get better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dammit. this isn't as long as i'd like it to be but like yolo amirite
> 
> thank you guys so much for commenting and bookmarking and leaving kudos! ya'll give me life.


	4. Welcome Aboard

"Hey YouTube, it's Mortem3r. Today is a very special episode of Kitty Kat Gaming, as I am joined by my brand new shiny editor, y/n!"

You watched the playback of you waving to the camera and smiling. The two of you had played Tsundere Simulator earlier that day, and you had already started editing. After syncing the audio, you shrunk down the face cam and put it in the top right corner.

You slipped off your headphones. "Hey, Suzy?"

She looked away from her monitor. "Hmm?"

"Do you want me to make a quick background for the gameplay videos? Like Game Grumps has?" You hadn't said anything, but you had done a little research when you had gotten home the night before.

Her eyes brightened. "That would be awesome, if you wanna do it!"

"Yeah," you said, opening Photoshop. "Any thoughts on what it should look like?"

"Here, lemme send you some assets." She clicked around on her computer, pausing to quickly type - most likely your email. "There. If you could match some of the colors in the intro, that would be fantastic."

"Not a problem," you chirped. "It's what I'm here for."

She grinned. "You're the best. Thank you."

You beamed and got to work in Photoshop. You picked out the light blue in the animated intro and made a gradient as the background, then opened your email to retrieve the assets she had sent you. They were the transparent png files of the logo and name of the show, plus a few other files she had used to edit in the past. You quickly made a repeating pattern with the images and pasted it all over the canvas, setting them to overlay. You saved it quickly and sent it back.

"How does that look?"

Suzy looked at you, then back to her screen, clicking open the email. "Holy shit, that was fast."

You shrugged, she approved the image, and you got back to the session.

It was weird seeing yourself on camera. Of course you would take pictures of yourself, and there were plenty of videos of you doing stupid shit and hidden talents littering your friends' and sister's phone, but this was different. This would be going online and would be seen by thousands. You silently congratulated yourself on waking up bright and early so you could make yourself pretty. Sure, it had been a small success, and sure, you were still wearing what you called "fashionable sweatpants," but they weren't visible on camera, so who the hell cared? For the first time in a long while, you were very content with how you looked and where you were in life.

It took you a couple hours to edit the entire session, but you were happy with the outcome and saved the finals to a hard drive. You stood to put it on Suzy's desk.

"I'm gonna go on a food run. Do you want anything from Panera Bread?"

She put a hand on the hard drive. "Thanks, and that sounds great!" She rattled off her order as you typed it up in a note on your phone, then fished a credit card out of her wallet. "Here's the company card, I don't wanna make you buy us all lunch."

You thanked her and walked around the office, taking orders. After finishing with everyone at their desks, you walked over to the window into the recording room, where Danny and Arin were playing a Kirby game. The screen was paused and it looked like they were between episodes, so you opened the door.

"Hey, guys, I'm going on a Panera run. Want anything?"

The two turned. "Oh, hell yes," Arin grinned.

You typed up their orders - a caesar salad for Arin and a turkey panini for Dan - and smiled. "Alright, I'll be back." They thanked you as you walked out the door and closed it behind you.

"Hey, y/n!" You looked over at Barry, who was getting out of his chair. "You want help getting all that?"

"Sure," you said, smiling. He followed you out to your car. "This isn't just a ploy to actually get to know me, is it?"

He raised his hands. "You caught me. I want to learn about my new coworker.”

You laughed and tugged open the driver’s side door. “20 questions. Shoot.”

“Okay,” he started, sliding into his seat. “How old are you?”

“Easy, I’m turning 30 next month.”

He shifted in his seat to face you as you pulled out of the parking lot. “Holy shit, really?”

You nodded, giggling at his surprise. “Why, how old did you think I was?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Younger, though.”

“I’m flattered,” you said, looking over your shoulder to merge into the next lane. “Danny said I’m the second oldest in the office.”

Barry nodded. “You stole the role from Holly.”

You shot him a glance. “Holly?”

“Oh,” he realized. “Ross’ wife. I guess you haven’t met her yet - she does cosplay and special effects stuff. She makes all the props for NSP videos.”

You paused. “Hang on. Holly. Conrad?”

“You know her?”

You laughed lightly. “I watched that Heroes of Cosplay show on Syfy. Holly and Jessica from Crabcat, right?”

“Yeah!” He grinned. “That’s our Holly. I think Ross was even in a few episodes.”

“Shit,” you exhaled, thinking back to the horribly drama filled reality show that you always seemed to have a weakness for. “Yup, that was him. Playing his god damn DS in every shot.”

The two of you shared a laugh as you pulled up to a stop light. “Do you have any siblings?”

You nodded. “Younger sister. Her name’s Suzanne, too.”

“Small world,” he breathed.

You took a right into the parking lot at Panera Bread. It was a place you frequented much more often than any other coffee shop.

“Okay, okay,” Barry called as you both stepped out of your Civic. “Uh, what’s your favorite movie?”

“Hmmm,” you bit your lip and pondered. “Alien? Or the Lord of the Rings trilogy.” You stopped walking a second. “Maybe Akira. Shit, that’s a hard question.”

He nodded approvingly. “Nice selection. I can tell you’re a god damn nerd.”

“Hey!” You laughed. “There ain’t nothin’ wrong with loving scifi, fantasy, and anime!”

He held the door open for you and you dug your phone out to retrieve the orders. The two of you fell in the short line. "Alright, what was the last video game you played?"

You thought a second. "Does Animal Crossing count? I mean, I play it, like, every day."

“You and everyone else in the office,” Barry commented. “I’ve never seen so many adults pretending to be mayors of a town of animals in one room.”

“Sounds like I’ll fit right in,” you said, giggling.

“Are you kidding?” Barry was chuckling as you moved up in line. “You already do. Danny would not shut up about you last night.”

You felt yourself flush. “That’s right, you guys live together, huh?”

You caught him nodding out of the corner of your eye. “Yeah, he dragged me into that diner on more than a few early mornings. You were never working, though.”

“Hmm,” you looked over to him. “Seems like Dan has quite the obsession.”

“Nah, he’s just passionate.”

Your cheeks were practically radiating. Barry laughed and nudged you.

“I’m just teasing you. And simultaneously embarrassing my roommate. It’s a win-win, really.”

You giggled nervously and stepped up to the counter. There was a young girl with a visor smiling and asking what she could get for you. You took a deep breath. “Okay, I apologize in advance for how long this order is.” The girl seemingly prepared herself as you read all the orders off your phone. Three sandwiches, two salads, two cups of soup, a bagel, a muffin, and three lattes later, you paused. “And two large green teas.” You turned to Barry. “Did you want something to drink, too?”

He shook his head. “We have Coke at the office.”

You nodded at the girl. “That’s it.”

She quickly read back the order, and she told you the price as you handed her the card Suzy had given you. “I- um, can I ask you something?”

You looked up. “Of course, what is it?”

“Are you, um, ordering for the Game Grumps?”

Barry grinned ear to ear. “A Lovely!”

The girl blushed as she handed you back the credit card. “I, uh, I’m a huge fan.”

You looked at her name tag. “Vicky?”

She nodded furiously. Barry immediately started thanking her for supporting them and liking the content they put out. “We do it for you guys.”

This girl, who was hardly legal, was smiling so wide you could see her gums. You wondered how often this happened. You wondered if, after the episodes you recorded with Suzy went up, it would start happening to you, too. Vicky had obviously recognized Barry, since you were hardly a whisper on the internet at this point. Would that change? Would you get stopped by Lovelies and get asked for pictures?

“What do you do?”

You blinked. She was talking to you.

“She’s Suzy’s new editor,” Barry jumped in. “Y/n. Just started yesterday.”

“Oh, cool!” Vicky was still grinning. “Wow, I feel like I’m in on a secret. Are you gonna do videos, too?”

You smiled back. “Look out for me on KKG,” you said. “As far as the Grump channel, that’s up to them.”

“I’m sure it’ll happen eventually,” Barry said. “A little birdie told me you played a lot of Dark Souls.”

“Suzy,” you looked at him. “Suzy is the little birdie.”

He shrugged. “You don’t know that.”

Vicky laughed. “It’s so nice meeting both of you.”

You looked at the short line behind you. “We should get out of your way. Thank you for saying something!”

Barry and you moved to the side and let the next person order as Vicky waved.

“Does that happen a lot?”

He shrugged, sitting down at a table to wait for your order. “Not too often. I’m always surprised when it does, though. People recognize Danny and Arin more. Ross, too.”

You nodded. Even if people didn’t know who Barry or Kevin - or you, for that matter - was, they were likely to recognize the bigger names on the channel. They had all had followings before they ever were a part of Game Grumps, too.

You thought a moment. Maybe you had spent too much time “researching” your new coworkers.

Barry continued asking you questions as people behind the counter quickly got your order together. No later than half an hour after you left, you were back at the office, bags of food in tow.

“Honey, we’re home!” You called, placing bags on the long tables in the kitchen area. “Come and get it!”

Ross and Kevin immediately hopped up from their computers and rushed over. Suzy lagged behind, sending off a text to her husband before coming to claim her sandwich and soup.

Everyone sat around the table as they ate. Only a couple minutes passed before Danny and Arin emerged from the recording room, excitedly chattering about food.

“Damn, do you guys ever eat?” You asked, laughing as Arin snatched up his salad and cradled it.

“Never,” Danny said, pulling his sandwich towards him and plopping down on the bench next to you.

“Oh,” you said. You grabbed one of the paper cups and handed it to him. “Green tea.”

He looked at you. “I didn’t ask for green tea.”

“I know,” you said, shrugging. “But, you know.”

He smiled slowly.

“Ugh, get a room,” Ross said loudly with a mouth full of blueberry muffin.

“Fuck off, Ross,” Danny laughed. “Close your stupid mouth while you eat.”

Ross opened his mouth wider and made louder noises while he chewed. Danny recoiled.

“God, I’m gonna barf.”

“Literally everyone here is twelve years old,” you gasped between laughs.

“Welcome aboard,” Kevin said, stabbing at his giant salad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been trying to post this for ages but my internet sucks haahahaha
> 
> fuck me i want panera bread


	5. I'm Gonna Barf

It was past ten when you finally decided it was time to call it a night. You’d been with the Grumps for a little over three weeks now, and with your help Suzy decided to start putting out more than one episode a day. This meant she spent more time recording and you were working long days editing - but not just KKG videos, you had also taken on her main channel. She never stopped thanking you for your help, which was refreshing, but it was your job, afterall, and you were getting paid. Besides, Suzy had a million other things on her plate. On top of planning all her videos, she also spent lots of time coordinating guests and con appearances for Game Grumps, working on her Etsy shop, and organizing behind the scenes things for Grump Out. Even just a week in, you were overly impressed that she had lasted as long as she did without an editor.

So you gathered your things - a water bottle and a tupperware container that had once held your lunch, tucking both into your purse - and yawned. You hadn’t realized how tired you were until you stood up. The office was empty besides you, but Danny and Ross were still recording Steam Train in the other room. You walked over and peeked in the window. They looked like they were in the middle of an episode. You watched for a couple minutes, which climaxed in Ross brutally dying and standing up from the couch, taking a lap around the room. Danny was very obviously keeling over with laughter. Ross saw you through the window as he headed back to sit on the couch, and threw a thumb over his shoulder, saying something into his mic. Dan looked up, wiping tears from his eyes and motioned for you to come in.

You poked your head in the door, speaking up so the mic would catch you even though you were a couple meters away. “Damn, Ross. You suck.”

“You can shut the hell up, y/n!” His face was red, but he was smiling.

Danny kept laughing. “How much did you see?”

“Enough,” you said, giggling. “I’m heading out for the night, please don’t bust a blood vessel, man. I’m worried.”

“Next time on Steam Train I beat up y/n for being a dickwad!” Ross said.

“Come at me, nerd, I’m fucking ripped.”

Danny was laughing so hard he was practically silent.

“Listen, asshole!” Ross pointed at you. “You come onto MY show…”

“Okay, okay!” Dan yelped, “Gnight, y/n!”

You laughed. “Good night, fellas!” You slammed the door and gave them a peace sign through the window before heading out. This job was way too fun to be real.

With keys in hand, you ventured out into the cool night. You unlocked your car from a few feet away, but paused when you reached your door.

It was slightly ajar. Closed, but not completely. You cursed under your breath as you pulled it open.

No one had broken in, you decided, after checking your glove compartment and console. If they had, they didn’t take anything. No, it was much more likely that you hadn’t been paying attention when you showed up (too busy texting your sister, who was still telling you that her middle school aged students loved Game Grumps), and failed to shut the door all the way.

You sighed in relief, shoving your key into the ignition and turning it.

Nothing happened.

Not even a rev.

You cursed again, trying over and over to get your car to start. Of course, you thought. The door was open. That meant there had been a light on your dashboard telling no one that the door was open since you arrived that morning. Finally, you gave up, hitting your wheel and covering your face. It was so late, and you were so tired. You grabbed your purse and emerged from the car again, slamming the door shut. Half out of anger, and half to make sure it had closed completely this time.

Returning to the building, you saw that Ross and Danny had taken a break from recording to get food in the kitchen. They looked up when you plopped your purse on a table.

“Come back to fight me, jerk?” Ross said, then froze when you made a face at him. “Woah, what happened to you?”

You rubbed your eyes. “Do either of you have a jumper cable, by any chance?”

Danny put down his poptart. “Car won’t start?”

You sighed. “I accidentally left the door slightly open. It drained the battery.”

“Shit, man,” Ross looked over to Dan. “I don’t have one. Do you?”

He shook his head. You groaned as he walked over to you. “Hey, it’s late. I’ll just take you home tonight, ask Barry to bring a jump tomorrow morning, and we’ll take care of it then. Okay?”

You nodded slowly. “Thank you.”

“Hey, man, you wanna just call it a night?” Ross said. “Like you said, it’s late. And we got plenty of episodes done tonight, we can just pick up again later this week.”

Dan nodded over his shoulder. “Sure, sounds good.”

“I’m sorry, guys,” you moaned. “I’m a dummy.”

“Nah, these things happen,” Ross assured. “I’m just glad we were still here.”

“Yeah, me too.” Danny threw an arm over your shoulders and grabbed your purse. “Let’s get you home.”

You groaned all the way to the door, Ross hollering a good night as Dan dragged you away. “God, I’m so tired, Danny. I’m so fucking tired.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing you’re not driving right now,” he said, pulling open the passenger door of his old SUV. You slid in lazily and brought your knees to your chest. “C’mon, hon. You need a seatbelt.”

“Hey, that’s my line,” you said, sliding your legs down and pulling the seatbelt across your chest.

He snorted. “What, ‘hon’? Is that off limits?”

“Yes,” you whimpered. “‘Hon’ is reserved for my fake southern diner hospitality.”

Dan was laughing as he closed your door, and walked around the front to his side. He pulled his phone out of his jeans before sliding into his seat. “I’m gonna need your address.”

You rattled it off with your eyes closed, assuming he was typing it into his GPS.

“Oh, I know where that is,” he breathed, tapping around on the screen that was way too bright for how much your eyes hurt. “Okay. Ready?”

You fake snored in response. He laughed. You snickered.

The office was about a half an hour drive from your apartment, at least with the traffic at half past ten in the evening. Making the commute during rush hour was a whole other beast, which is why you were always so hesitant to leave when Suzy always suggested you did. You’d rather hang around the office for a while and reduce the drive by half an hour. You sleepily directed Danny into your parking spot and rubbed your face as he shifted to a stop.

“Thank you, Dan. I really appreciate this.” You started getting out of his car.

“Hang on, you bum. I gotta walk you up, too.”

You gave him a look. “I’m a big girl, Daniel Avidaniel. I can make it up a couple flights of stairs.”

“Yes,” he started, eyebrows high on his forehead. “But I am a god damn gentleman. Let me walk you to your door.”

You giggled. “Fine. Hurry up.”

Purse over your shoulder, Danny silently walked beside you as you slowly ascended the steps to your apartment. You were smiling absently at your feet and he had his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket. The two of you made it to your front door and you successfully unlocked it, pushing it open. You turned to him.

“Thank you, Sir Daniel. You truly are a gentleman.”

“Anytime, milady,” he said, tipping an imaginary fedora.

You made a noise of disgust and flinched. “Please no.”

“What?” He rubbed his unshaven face. “Do you not like my neckbeard? I was growing it out of you.”

He was laughing when you groaned and practically collapsed into him for a sad excuse of a hug.

This was better than you thought it would be. Hugs weren’t something you had ever particularly craved from anyone, but damn, if Dan wasn’t a good hugger. He had lifted you out of your awkward collapsed position so he could properly squeeze your ribcage, and you did the same around his neck. He smelled vaguely woodsy.

“This is nice,” you said finally. This hug was probably lasting far longer than it should have, but you weren’t complaining.

“I have a question.”

“Hmm?”

He pulled away just far enough so you could look into his deep set eyes. “Do you wanna, like, go on a date sometime?”

Something in you fluttered. How long had you been silently wishing this would happen? Months? And here you were, exhausted and dopey, and he had asked you out. Your grin must have tipped him off to your inevitable answer, because he started to smile himself. “I mean, I guess,” you muttered, trying very hard to hide your excitement. It wasn’t working.

“Cool,” he replied, matching your tone.

You giggled, burying your face in his shoulder. It felt like an eternity before he pulled away fully. He tugged his phone out of his back pocket again, handing it to you. You giggled at his peacock phone case and quickly inputted your number. Both of you were laughing softly - partially because the situation was ridiculous, but mostly because you were both sleep deprived and giddy.

“I- um. I’ll text you later,” Danny said, suppressing a dorky grin. “God, what the fuck is wrong with us. Am I 14 again?”

You poked him in the ribs and started backing through your open doorway. “Hurry home, Sexbang. Let me know when you get there so I can sleep soundly.”

He smiled and turned towards the stairs. “Something tells me you’ll be long gone when I get home.”

He hadn’t been wrong. You passed out the moment you got out of your clothes and collapsed into bed, but he still did what you asked. When you woke up a little before seven the next morning, there was a text waiting on your phone, logged at 11:23 PM.

_Made it, hon._

You smiled as you rolled out of bed, pushing your hair out of your face. You had slept like a log, and it had probably been the soundest sleep you’d experienced in recent memory. You were so tired the night before, you hadn't even bothered to put on pajamas after stripping off most of your clothing, so getting into the shower was an easy jump to make. As you turned on the hot water, you shot him a text back: _Morning, sunshine. Thanks again for getting me home._

You stuck your phone into the speaker dock on the counter of your bathroom and let it play music as you stepped into the stream of water. Half way through washing your hair, you heard the audio on your phone dip slightly as it dinged, signifying that you received a text. After a few more minutes of cleaning, you emerged from the steam and wrapped a towel around your torso. Drying as you went, you grabbed fresh clothing from your room and returned to where the music was the loudest. You slipped into some underwear and a bra, grabbed your phone off the dock, and read the text.

_Good morning! I need to get to the office by 10 today. How early should I pick you up?_

You hadn’t even thought about how you’d get to work yet. And here Danny was, offering to drive all the way out to your home and all the way back, just so he could take you to the office with him. Not even offering, you realized. Decided. Had you ever met someone so genuinely nice?

 _I can get an Uber_ , you replied finally. _You would be stuck in the car for over an hour if you came and got me._

_I don’t mind. I like driving. Please answer my question._

At this point, your hair was dry and makeup applied, and you were tugging on a pair of leggings. You couldn’t believe this guy. _You’d have to get here by 9:15. You really don’t have to do this. How could I ever repay you?_

_I’ll head out now. Buy me breakfast and we’re even._

You looked at the time. It was nearly 7:30, and he’d probably manage to arrive in about a half hour coming this direction. You sent him a text saying that you were in agreeance and pulled on the rest of your outfit. Snatching up your purse, which was on the floor by your bed, you headed to the kitchen and pulled out the tupperware and water bottle. You rinsed both out and stuck the former in your dishwasher, refilling the water bottle at your fridge. You walked over to your computer and booted it up.

There was an inbox full of emails for you to work through. Granted, you could absolutely do this at the office and use the time to, oh, clean the kitchen? Fold the laundry you had done three days ago? But you always felt bad when you spent time at the office doing personal work rather than editing. So, you lost yourself to emails from family, doctors, and various other sources, tapping out responses and organizing them into different folders. Once you completed the emails, you moved onto Twitter, scrolling through the already overwhelming amount of mentions from the Lovelies. Most of them were just that; lovely. A few of them were less than, but you had been warned. Suzy said that if anyone was rude to you, you had every right to block them. You already did so to a couple accounts. For the most part, though, the tweets directed at you were one of two things: excited questions about who you were and how you started working with the Grumps, or saying that you were adorable. There was a lot of the latter.

Sipping at your water, you quietly retweeted a couple drawings. Realizing you had more time, you clicked open your work email and started organizing what you would be doing today.

There was a knock at the door. You stood up, hands still on the keyboard, typing out the end of a sentence. Trotting to the door and grabbing your phone off the kitchen counter on the way, you swung it open to find Danny, hands in the pockets of his oversized military-style jacket and hair all over.

He smiled. "You ready?"

You held up a finger as you brought up the camera on your phone. "Smile." He gave you a wide smile, letting his eyes close. You snapped a picture and giggled. "Okay. Come in a second, I gotta finish an email."

"Sure," he said, siding around you as you shut the door behind him."Cute place."

"Thanks!" You led him to your living room. "Mi casa es su casa."

He plopped onto your couch and sprawled out his limbs comfortably as you finished typing up your response to Suzy's schedule for the day. Normally, the two of you would discuss it at work, but she was going to be out of the office, buying up supplies for crafts at different vintage shops in the area.

You sent the email off and swivelled in your chair, facing the man that had somehow spread himself across the entirety of your three-seater couch while still remaining upright, arms on the back of it. You walked over and sat yourself in the space next to him and leaned your head against his arm.

"So, there's a cafe that has really good breakfast sandwiches and muffins, an IHOP not too far away, and an old school breakfast place that is called a cafe but in reality is more like a diner." You poked his knee. "Whatcha feelin'?"

"Well, I haven't had diner food for weeks now," he said, scratching his face.

You looked at him. "Why? Because I don't work there anymore?"

He shrugged. "It's not the same."

You rolled your eyes and giggled, getting up and walking to the kitchen. "Let's go, then. To LA Café."

Danny pulled himself off the couch. "It's a date."

You eyed him. He looked very proud of himself. "Are we dating? Is that just a thing now?"

"Well, not yet," he said, then continued in a sing-song voice. "But after breakfast, there's a good chance!"

"You're a child."

"Okay, Ms. Five-years-younger-than-me."

You stuck your tongue out at him and he laughed. The two of you walked side by side down the stairs and got into Dan's car. You directed him to the cafe that wasn't far from your complex. A hostess directed you to a table where you both stripped off your jackets, then began to look over the menu. You knew you were probably gonna get something horribly huge that you weren't going to be able to finish, but that was always the case at these all-American breakfast places. Your eyes were always bigger than your stomach, especially when biscuits with sausage gravy was involved.

When the waitress came around, you did exactly what you thought you would; you ordered a meal meant for someone much bigger than you. Dan got a plate of pancakes and asked for two mugs of green tea.

"That's just a continuing thing, huh?" You said as the waitress walked away. "Green tea is just our thing."

"Absolutely," he grinned. "In all my time in LA, I have never met another person who preferred green tea over coffee. Never."

You shrugged. "It's better than an energy drink, but it still tastes like dirt water."

"Yeah, it's gross. Also," he let his eyes wander as he swallowed and gestured towards his throat. "I have to sing a lot and coffee is bad for your vocal chords."

"Is it really?" He nodded. "I had no idea."

After the waitress dropped off your hot drinks, Danny went on to tell you about other tricks singers used to help their voices. "Milk," he said, "is a popular one. But I sing from my throat and milk makes me all phlegmy."

"Hot," you giggled.

He waggled his eyebrows at you. "Does my phlegm turn you on?"

You fake-gagged. "I'm gonna barf."

He treated you with a squinty laugh.

He was cute. You always forgot until he did something that made it painfully obvious again. And there he was, reminding you that his laugh was adorably out of control and how nice his arms looked when they weren't covered by baggy jackets. How he would discuss so thoroughly and passionately his interests. How he covered his mouth with a fist and nodded as you brought up your own opinions.

This guy, you thought. This guy was trouble.

But you were pretty sure it was worth the risk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's a doozy. i'm feelin woozy! did someone say suzy??  
> i'm tired. thanks guys


	6. Fuck It.

When the two of you arrived at the office, Danny went straight to the recording room to start the Game Grumps session scheduled for that day. Barry helped you jump your car, which was a relief, and the two of you agreed that you should probably buy a jumper cable to stick in your trunk.

“I always meant to,” you said, slamming the door of your now operable car shut. “It’s one of those things that you never get around to until it’s too late.”

Barry nodded knowingly as he rolled up his own jumper cable and deposited it in the trunk of his hatchback. The two of you headed back into the office. “What are you working on today?”

You explained that Suzy was busy with Etsy things today, but that you still had plenty of work to do on the past couple KKG sessions she had recorded. “Not enough to fill up eight hours, though,” you said, pushing open the door into the Grump Space and eyeing the shelves of games. You saw it every day, but it never got less impressive. “I might actually start my weekend early.”

“Hey,” Barry started. “You had some animation on your show reel, right?”

You nodded at him, following him towards the fridge, out of which he grabbed a bottle of Vitamin Water. “Yeah, I do some. I’m not great, but I’ve done a few freelance jobs.”

He unscrewed the cap. “I dunno if you’ve seen any of them, but we commission fans and artists to do Game Grumps Animated videos. Ross and I have also done a couple on the channel.” He took a swig of his drink. “Would you be interested in doing something like that?”

Looking down at your toes and scrunching up your brows, you thought a moment. “Maybe? I dunno.”

“Think about it. No pressure, obviously.” He smiled. “But if you’re ever bored or don’t have a ton to do, maybe try it? Suzy was pretty impressed by _all_ of your work, not just the editing. She called everyone over to watch your reel when you first applied for the job.”

You blushed, smacking your hands against your cheeks. “That bitch!”

He laughed and wandered towards his desk. “Seriously, y/n. Think about it. You can pick any audio clip you want.”

“I will,” you said quietly, watching him sit. You grabbed a bottle of water and shuffled to your own desk, plopping down into the bungie cord seat. Your computer was booting up as you rubbed your face. Everyone? Everyone had seen your reel? You groaned internally at the idea of all your coworkers - and now friends, you figured - standing around a monitor and watching your sad excuse of a show reel. Oh God, you thought. Danny had seen it too, probably. And he still liked you? How dare he.

You shook your head violently. Logging into your computer, you prepared to lose yourself in editing for a few hours so you didn’t have to think about how embarrassing your reel was. You were thankful for the distraction as you watched several hours of Hunie Pop and Long Live The Queen. Suzy provided you with opportunity to utilize your very own version of Barry's yellow text and Kevin's blue text - purple text! You also had to include a few Burgies to cover up some scandalous bits, but for the most part, had a pretty easy time finishing up the sessions.

You were working on Long Live The Queen when your phone buzzed. Glancing over, you read Dan on the notification. You slid it open.

_Dinner Saturday?_

You looked over to the window into the next room, the room you knew Danny and Arin were recording within. After a long minute of deciding how to respond, you finally texted him back. _Are you asking me out over text?_

Turning back to your center monitor, you prepared to get back to work. But right as you started making cuts again, the recording room door flew open. Danny had burst out, sprinted towards you, and skidded to a halt by your desk. You raised your hands in a bracing motion with wide eyes.

He smiled sweetly and gave you the smoulder as he leaned against your desk, chest working visibly harder. “Hey, baby. Would you like to go out to dinner with me this Saturday evening, say, seven o’clock?”

You giggled and put your hands in your lap. “I’d love to.”

“Great.” He straightened his stance and tugged at the hem of his shirt. “I’ll pick you up at your place.”

You couldn’t stop your giggling nonsense as he sauntered back to work. “Are you in the middle of an episode?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he called over his shoulder, shutting the door behind him. The others in the office had all stopped working to watch the commotion.

Kevin hollered. “Well isn’t that adorable!”

“Shut up. You’re, like, twelve,” you said, blushing. He laughed as he slid his headphones back on.

He had done it. Danny had asked you out. Not just a vague "let's go out sometime" like what had happened the night before, but a set time and date. Your heart raced. You could hardly focus on your breathing, much less the video you were working on. Looking around and trying not to grin like an idiot, you leaned back and fiddled with the strings of your sweatshirt.

Snap out of it, you thought. It's not like you've never gone on a date before. Sure, it had been a while since someone you were actually interested in had asked you out, but you had been on plenty of dates in the past few years. You've even gone steady with a couple guys for a while. But why did this all feel so new? Why did it feel like you were thirteen and the cute guy in your pre-algebra class had asked you if you wanted to go see The Truman Show in theaters? Granted, in this analogy, the cute guy would have been a senior in high school and totally creepy for asking out a thirteen year old, but that wasn't important. What was important was that you hadn't felt this way about someone in a very long time. You hadn't even gone on the damn date yet. _But fuck me, if I don't really like this guy,_ you thought. It was almost alarming.

You managed to calm yourself down enough to get back to work. Your headphones hooked back onto your ears and your fingers rapidly striked shortcuts and commands. There were still rogue teenager-y thoughts that you had to bat out of your head every half hour or so, but you managed to finish all of your editing before breaking for lunch. Well, dinner. Linner. It was definitely past four, but that happened often at the office. You fished some Lean Cuisine nonsense out of the freezer and threw it in the microwave. Immediately pulling up Twitter, you looked through your notifications. Most were on that picture you had posted earlier - the one you took of Dan when he had picked you up - with the comment, “Thanks to this hobo for driving me half an hour home last night and also picking me up this morning because my car died at the office.”

You were chucking at all the mentions, many talking about how his beard seemed longer. God, were people obsessed with him and his crazy hair. But could you blame them? At first, he just looked like a scraggly idiot, but his messy appearance grows on you. And suddenly you’re wondering how the hell that scraggly idiot was so handsome.

The beeping of the microwave roused you from your Twitter-venture. Tugging the floppy excuse of a bowl out of the machine, you stuck your vaguely burnt thumb in your mouth and stirred the rice-something with a fork. Carefully bringing your meal back to your desk, you thought a moment. It wasn't even five and you had already finished everything you set out to do that day. You looked up as you shoveled rice into your mouth, eyeing the back of Barry's head while he was editing a Q&A video. Maybe you should do an animation.

You shook your head. You weren't even good at animation, you had hardly dabbled in it. But, you thought, it would be nice to have another project. And it would be good practice. And it would give you an excuse to watch more of the show...

"Fuck it," you said quietly. You put your headphones and navigated to the Game Grumps channel, beginning to comb through episodes, settling in for a long ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did ya miss me?  
> sorry for disappearing and sorry this is shit and sorry its so short hahhHA  
> summer quarter is really kicking my ass, ya'll. i promise to step up my game


	7. You're Dangerous

“Do you eat sushi?”

You looked over to the tall man at the counter by you. You were dipping a teabag into hot water and browsing Kotaku on your phone. “Yes. Why?”

He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “No reason.”

He had been doing this for a full week, asking tiny innocuous questions and then changing the subject. How are you with heights? Fine. Do you like dressing up? Sure. Do you drink? Of fucking course. He was planning something, you knew it. And you supposed you’d find out exactly what it was on Saturday.

Tomorrow, you reminded yourself. Tomorrow was Saturday. And Dan had told you to be ready by 6:45 in the evening, retracting his original plan, which was a very Dan thing to do. You had just smiled and agreed, changing the time in your phone’s calendar. You asked just how formally you needed to dress, and he responded by shrugging and saying “I’m wearing a sport coat and nice pants, up to you.”

Up to you. Not a lot else about this date was up to you, so you took advantage of it.

You left work at 4:30 that day, having come in around six in the morning. You had blasted through all the work Suzy had set aside for you that day and she happily waved you off, knowing what you had in store the next day and asking if you needed clothing help.

“I think I’ll be fine,” you said. “I just have to dig through my closet for a bit. If I need another opinion, I’ll let you know.”

“You got it,” she grinned. “I promise not to show the boys.”

And away you went. Homeward bound to try on every dress you have ever owned, then inevitably end up at an H&M to buy a new one because none of the dresses in your closet were acceptable. So you settled on a short sleeveless black romper for a little over thirty bucks, but of course sent a snapchat to Suzy for confirmation. She gave her blessing with a thumbs up and you smiled at the cashier as you left. Your sister was texting you constantly about how she had looked up this “Dan Avidan,” that he looked very Jewish, and that your grandma would absolutely agree to this happy union.

_Shut up._

_What? Nana was all about them meshugener._

You laughed. That she was. And that was probably the perfect way to describe Dan. Crazy. _That’s besides the point. The point is that we haven’t even gone on the damn date yet, so stop filing into the synagogue and breaking plates._

Throwing your bag in the back seat of your Civic, you slid into the driver’s seat and set course for home. Your phone buzzed beside you, but you resisted the urge to look at it. It was just Annie being a sassy jerk, you knew. It always was. But when you were stopped at a red light that didn’t seem to change for eons, you reached over to scoop it out of the cup holder that held it in place and put it up against your steering wheel.

It was from _Dan. So I see you’ve left the office already._

_This is true. You have excellent observation skills._ You tossed your phone back into a cup holder as the car in front of you started moving forward. Only a few blocks away from your apartment, traffic started getting really bad. A groan escaped you. This drive was going to take much longer than if you just hopped out of the car and walked home, and you even considered it for a second. Your phone vibrated.

_Any particular reason or are you just avoiding me?_

You activated voice control. _Oh shit, you’re on to me. I was trying to get to Las Vegas before you noticed so I could stand you up and then send you a selfie with a hooker._

_Uh, excuse me, but the contract you signed explicitly states that Dan Avidan must be invited to all hooker selfie runs to Las Vegas._

You laughed out loud. He had definitely made the drive home easier. _Damn. I guess I’ll head home then._ You attached a picture of the stairs of your apartment complex.

_You didn’t get very far, did you?_

_Traffic._

He responded with the eye rolling emoji. You shuffled into your apartment and threw your keys on the secretary in the hall towards your bedroom. _Is that at me or the traffic?_

_You._

_Good, just making sure._ You pulled the article of clothing out of it’s paper bag and draped it across your bed, planting fists on your hips and biting a lip. Time to dig through your shoes and purses. Probably should find a cardigan or jacket, too, since night would fall by the time you were getting back home. You sighed, plugging your phone into the speaker in the bathroom and setting the volume high enough to piss off your neighbors. You prepared to dive into your closet again. You debated between pumps and flats, then remembered what Danny had said about what he was wearing. Beyond your arms full of high heeled monstrosities, you saw a pair of leopard-print sneakers. You had bought them and worn them once before deciding they were a little too much for you, but you figured tomorrow would be the perfect night to be a bit much.

Wiggling into the romper and sliding the shoes on over unmatching socks, you looked at yourself in the full length mirror next to the closet. Sighing again, you started pulling light jackets off their hangers and testing them with the outfit. Leather? Knitted? Denim? No, not denim. You already had leopard print shoes, you didn’t need to bring back anymore of the 80s on a single date. You pulled on an olive green cotton jacket. Too casual? Maybe a blazer. Then again, this wasn’t a job interview.

Shit. You were thinking way too hard about this.

You threw a few options on your bed and grabbed your phone from the bathroom, opening snapchat.

“Okay, this is what I look like,” you started, showing off your romper and shoes in the mirror. You spun around and pointed at all the jackets on your bed. “And I can’t fucking decide what to wear on top please help me style queen.” Ten seconds ran up fast and you sent it off to Suzy. Biting your lip again, you nervously looked over your options.

What was this, prom?

When your phone buzzed you quickly tapped on Suzy’s reply. It was a video of her in the office. “I think the deep red biker jacket would look really good. Pair it with gold jewelry!” She gave you a thumbs up and grinned. You exhaled, sending a picture back with the caption thank u for dressing me mommy.

You hung up the rejected jackets and tripped out of the romper, draping it over the armchair in the corner. You threw the jacket on top and the shoes at the feet of the chair. Looking over to your bathroom, you figured picking out jewelry and makeup could wait until tomorrow.

It was already seven and your grumbling stomach reminded you that there wasn’t any food in it. You poked around in your fridge and grabbed some leftover fajita chicken you had made a few days before. Tortillas, plate, microwave, 1:30. You fetched your phone to respond to the messages you had ignored, one from your sister (who was continuously teasing you even though you were pretty sure the older sister was supposed to be doing that), and another from Danny. They both made you smile.

Seven turned to eight turned to nine. Nine was spent showering and preparing for sleep. Ten was spent on the couch with House of Cards. Eleven was spent debating sleep, but actively scrolling through Twitter and texting that weird boy you had agreed to a date with. It was past midnight before you finally set your phone aside and let yourself drift into dreams, but mostly because Dan had told you to. And when you woke up, you cursed your inability to sleep past seven and rolled out of bed.

You spent most of the morning at your computer, as there were emails to be sent and audio clips to be sifted through. You even began storyboarding a couple different options, and you were making your lip raw from biting it in the same spots, but you just weren’t sure about the audio still. If you were going to make an animated for the main channel, you wanted it to be good. To be funny, or cute, or something. And so far you hadn’t found any audio snippets that you were totally in love with.

So your search continued. You felt like such a doof just listening to Game Grumps videos constantly, but how else were you going to find the perfect clip? You set up a playlist to play on your tv and started doing dishes as it displayed an incredibly pretty version of Wind Waker.

Hours passed. The playlist finished, your dishes were washed, laundry folded, and desk organized. You had avoided texting Danny before the date - and it seemed he was avoiding texting you - but at the expense of being incredibly bored for a large chunk of time. Finally, the time came where it was acceptable for you to bathe and begin getting ready. After a shower full of shaving and conditioning, you prepared yourself for the date. Hair, done. Makeup, done. Outfit, on. You were adjusting jewelry and fiddling with hair when there was a hard knock on the front door. Taking a deep breath, you threw the black and gold purse you had stuffed with your personal items over a shoulder and marched to the door, unlocked it, and swung it open.

And there he was. All six feet and three inches. As he had told you, Dan was wearing dark jeans that were surprisingly barren from rips, a gray v-neck, and a tan sportcoat. His hand was tucked into his pants' pockets as he quickly ran the other through his mane of hair.

He was looking at you with wide eyes, up and down. "Wow."

Your cheeks immediately flamed. "You clean up well,” you said, tugging at your fingers.

“I was gonna say,” he giggled slightly. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything but sweatpants and t-shirts since you quit at the diner. You look," he paused. You felt your knee shake nervously. "Wow. Just wow."

You exhaled and smiled ever so slightly. "Thank you. You also look wow."

He laughed and stepped back. "Shall we go? There is a table waiting for us."

Nodding, you stepped out of your apartment and spun around to lock the door. You heard him giggle behind you.

"I like your shoes," he said. "Very 80s."

"I just wanted to make you feel at home, old man." You nudged his arm with your shoulder as you walked past and trotted down the stairs. He was laughing as he followed you.

He said the reservation was at 7, so you assumed based on your La Brea location that the place must have been somewhere in Hollywood. The drive was fairly quiet, aside from slow chats about the past few days and you attempting to get clues about the night's festivities. It was comfortable, though. You were enjoying watching California slide by with Danny quietly singing along to Ramones in the background. From what you could tell, he had some Greatest Hits compilation CD.

When you arrived at the restaurant, you almost couldn't believe where you were. Your mouth gaped as you pulled yourself out of the car, Danny handing his keys to a valet and holding an arm out for you to tuck yours into. It was a well known Japanese palace atop a hill that overlooked the city. Surrounded by trees and gorgeous architecture, you felt as though you might faint.

"Yamashiro?" You muttered. "You took me to Yamashiro and told me to dress casual?"

He squeezed your arm. "Well, yeah. Aren't I incredible?"

"I'm wearing leopard print shoes," you whined.

"And I love them," he retorted. "You look beautiful and way out of my league and everyone will know it once they see us together. They'll say, 'Wow, how is that disgusting scrub scoring with the gorgeous and stylish model? He must be rich.'"

You nearly snorted as the two of you walked up to the hostess.

"Reservation for two under Avidan," Danny said coolly. You reminded yourself to breathe.

The hostess checked her board and led you away. Dan gestured for you to walk before him and you smiled slightly.

"Did I mention you look stunning? Because you do."

You looked over your shoulder and locked eyes with him for a second. "Are you staring at my ass?"

He flashed his teeth. "Just enjoying the view I was given."

The table reserved for you was a small two seater in a corner, windows taking up the walls it was pressed against. You were gaping again as you slid off your jacket, taking in the view. The sun was lowering in the sky, hitting the city in a way that reminded you why you moved out here in the first place. The woman that led you to this paradise smiled as she put menus on the table, bowing and heading off. You bowed slightly habitually and gave Dan a look as he moved towards you to help you into a seat.

He gently pushed in your chair as you sat, then moved to drape his jacket over the back of his own seat.

Your eyes were fixated on the sky. The sun wasn't quite low enough to be setting yet, but it was starting to create gorgeous shades of orange and pink as it drifted across the Californian landscape. You were so enamoured that you didn't even notice when Dan stole the menu away from you.

A man came by to fill your glasses with water and asked how the two of you were this evening.

"Fantastic," you immediately replied, face in a constant state of awesome smiling at Dan. He grinned back.

"Glad to hear it! Would you like anything else to drink tonight, or are you ready to order?"

Danny took the reigns this time. "We'll have a carafe of the Seven Spearsmen, and for dinner, Chef's Choice, three courses."

The waiter smiled and said he would return with your drink momentarily. You stared at the man that had taken you here. That had been prodding you and asking all sorts of questions all week. That had just ordered God knows what and was smiling at you sweetly with his hands folded under his stubbly chin. "I think I'm in shock."

He smirked. "I wanted to make a good first impression."

"Consider it a success. I am very impressed." Your eyes scanned the view again. "Look at this, it's insane. Breathtaking."

"I agree." You looked back and saw he hadn't moved, eyes fixed on you. You felt yourself flush.

Oh no, you thought. He was so very dangerous. This place, this guy, the way he looks, the way he looks at you. You felt something shift in you, something that felt like butterflies batting around in your chest.

"You have no idea how long I wanted to ask you out," he said finally, hands adjusting to lay flat on the table. "Your last day at the diner, I thought, 'Shit, it's now or never. If I dont ask her out today, I'll never see this woman again.'" He paused. "I chickened out. I was beating myself up pretty hard after I left. And then you showed up at the Space later that day, and I knew I had been given a second chance. A chance I didn't deserve but had to take."

Your cheeks were red, you could feel it. He looked up at you shyly and gave you a close mouthed smile. Your heart skipped a beat.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, now and when you're in yoga pants and a sweatshirt. You're hilarious and intelligent and incredibly talented and you make me," he paused a moment, collecting words. "You make me feel comfortable. At home. I haven't felt that way in a very long time."

You could hardly breathe. You reached over and grabbed his hand that was nervously fiddling with a napkin ring. It immediately settled. His hands were soft and warm.

"Dan," you said hesitantly. "We are less than half an hour into our first date and I've already decided that I want to be your girlfriend."

He grinned. "Oh, I know. Look at this place!" He gestured to the view again while you giggled. "Look at me! I'm a handsome devil. How could you resist?"

You were full on laughing now, hand still clutching his. "I couldn't! I haven't been able to for months."

He looked at you with smiling eyes. You wondered if this was real. Were you dreaming? Were you going to wake up from a day dream and find yourself back at the diner with Dan quietly eating eggs and reading an article on his phone? Likely not. This was happening. You were giggling like a fool with guy that was being just as foolish, and you couldn't be more excited about it.

The waiter returned with a small tray, a tall, thin, and sleek pitcher with two small matching cups atop it. He placed it on the table and poured your first glasses for you, then retreated to another table. Danny was the first to take a cup and held it up expectantly. You took the other and clicked it against his.

"Cheers, baby!"

You grinned and downed the entire cup. It wasn't much, and it was very smooth and mellow, but it was also very alcoholic. You could feel it burning down your throat. The aftertaste left you craving cantaloupe. "Shit, that goes hard."

Danny had taken the shot like a champ. "Son of a bitch. Sake’s intense."

You giggled and slurped at your water to cool your throat. “I think I like it, though."

“As much as you like me?”

Thinking a moment, you smiled. “More than I like you.”

“Wow,” he said, laughing. “That hurts. Wow!”

You were chortling. “I think you underestimate my love of alcohol.”

“I’m hoping that you’ll like me more than sake by the end of the night.”

A shrug rolled off your shoulders. "We'll see. No promises, but you're going in the right direction."

Dan smiled again, but it wasn't a deliberate toothy grin this time. It was a sedated, almost shy smile that was directed more at the table than at you. He filled your small cup again. "Maybe if I get you drunk, it'll speed up the process."

"That's a man after my heart," you laughed, picking up your drink as he poured himself a shot as well. "Are you planning on getting a cab, mister? This ain't beer."

He cocked his head slightly. "We'll see. I don't get drunk easily, but it depends on how fun drinking with you is."

"I would like to apologize in advance for your hangover, then."

He was grinning at you when your waiter returned with a seaweed salad and oyster shooters. Dan slurped down an oyster and groaned. "Oh my God, that's good."

"Okay, Avidan, cool it with the food sex. It's just a sea booger." He burst out with a squinty laugh. The two of you were probably too loud and too childish to be in such a fancy restaurant, but hell, you weren't about to stop.

"Son of a bitch, y/n! Don't say that as it's going down my esophagus."

You were giggling and picking at the salad with your chopsticks. "I've said that before."

"Wow, stop," he gasped. "You're dangerous."

Dangerous. That was a word you had used to describe him on several occasions. Not just to yourself, but to your sister, your friends... And it was true. He was. He got you excited to go to work, just to share some laughs and a passing conversation. He had brought you to the most beautiful restaurant in Los Angeles and acted like it wasn't a big deal. He teased you for your shameless addiction to terrible 80s synth rock but simultaneously knew every word to every song.

This Dan Avidan was making you fall way too hard and way too fast. And that was dangerous. But somehow, you were okay with it. Because no matter how dangerous it was, he would be around. And that was worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S BACK  
> BACK AGAIN  
> now to disappear into oblivion and post another chapter in a month  
> hhhaaaaaaaa....


	8. Yes, Dear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE! I'm not dead!  
> This ones a shorty but i'm half way through the next chapter so i'll be updating again soon  
> probably  
> ha  
> something ricked this way comes.......

Nearly two hours had passed. The two of you had demolished a platter of assorted sushi, two bowls of green tea ice cream, and the entire carafe of sake. Admittedly, you had consumed more of the alcohol than Dan, but he had eaten more of the ice cream, so it probably evened out. He was telling you about his most recent musical endeavors as you both stared out to the now dark cityscape. You asked him what the fuck a Tupper Ware Remix Party was, he laughed and responded. This first date was turning into a long and pleasant evening, and quite honestly, you couldn't complain. You were slightly warm inside - probably a mixture of the boy and the alcohol - and the view was breathtaking. Your feet kept gently tapping on his. Every once in a while, you'd find yourself tangling your fingers with his without realizing it. This was probably the most comfortable first date you had ever experienced, but you had known each other for months now, making it much easier to fall into ease.

The conversation trickled like a stream from music to musicals, plays to film adaptations, film to tv, cartoons to anime. The more you talked, the more you realized your interests matched up way too well, but not enough actual overlap to keep it boring. He liked Lord of the Rings as much as you did, but hadn't bothered with much Star Trek. You had heard of a few of his favorites, but never got around to watching them. The two of you were already building a list of stuff you needed to watch together

"Hey, Dan?"

You broke your gaze from the outside to look over at him. His free hand was under his chin and he had been enjoying the same view as you had. "Yes?"

"As lovely as this is, I think the waitstaff is starting to get mad at us."

He glanced over his shoulder and nodded. He had paid the bill long ago, without letting you peek or help, of course. Dan stood from his chair and made movements to pull yours out for you.

"Such a gentleman," you giggled.

"Oh, you know me, baby. Can't help but be suave as hell."

Both of you slipped your jackets on and headed towards the front door. Staff bowed and thanked you on your way out, both of you bobbing heads and returning the sentiment. By the time you made it out the front door and were waiting for the valet, Dan was snickering to himself.

"I feel like a chicken after all those head bobs."

You had your arm tucked under his but still managed to shove him lightly, encouraging his laughs. "Don't be rude, that's their culture."

"Who's 'they,' Ms. PC Police? The Orientals?"

You were giggling wildly and slapping his shoulder. "Shut up, shut up! Someone's gonna hear you."

"Oh, honey!" He started in a deepened voice, seemingly giving his best impression of a middle-aged white American. "Lock the car doors. We're in a very urban area." He finished it off with a bass line, complete with hand motions.

You were staring at him, incredulous grin on your face. "The fuck is wrong with you?"

"What? You've never heard of Racist Bassist?"

You were sure you were making the most hideous face as you leaned over and cackled. You managed to look presentable as the valet returned Dan's car keys, but you were both giggling more than you probably should have been. Dan handed some folded cash to the valet and guided you to his car.

You were giggling too hard for the majority of the drive back to your apartment. When he pulled into your second parking spot, you sighed happily. He followed you dutifully to your door, commenting on your shoes and (more subtly) ass. You spun around to face him.

He was giving you an asymmetrical smile that you greeted with a wide grin.

"So," you started, twirling your fingers.

"So?"

"So. Do you wanna come in? For, like. Green tea or some shit."

"Of course."

"That's not an invitation to fuck," you assured him as you unlocked your door. "I just don't wanna stop hanging out with you yet."

He laughed. "I believe you. There was originally a walk in the park planned to make this date finish with style, but then I forgot and didn't remember until about two minutes ago."

You were giggling as he stepped into your apartment. The door swung shut behind you and you shuffled your shoes off your feet, kicking them onto your welcome mat. You slid the lock as Danny was threatening timber as he tried to pull his own shoes off. Laughing, you helped him steady himself. He slam dunked his shoe in triumph and moved onto the next.

Making your way to the kitchen, you dropped your purse on the counter and put a kettle on the stove. You set two mugs aside and shimmied your jacket off your shoulders. You heard Danny padding in behind you, hesitantly wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his head on yours. You stiffened slightly at the unfamiliar touch, but warmed up to the idea quickly.

“Is this weird?” He asked. “I can stop.”

You giggled. “No, it’s not weird. You just took me on a very successful date. You’re allowed to touch me.”

He hummed and kissed the top of your head. “Good. I’ve been wanting to.”

Your body spun around, tucking your arms around his torso, his arms settling around your shoulders. “Ditto.”

The embrace was shared for almost too long. You rest your cheek against his chest, listening to his quiet heart beat. You heard him clear his throat slightly.

“Hey, um, you.”

A snort escaped you. “Yes?”

He was smiling sheepishly when you looked up to him, deep brown eyes glowing. “I have a question.”

“Yes, Mr. Avidan, what is it? Remember, you don’t have to ask to use the restroom.”

Danny laughed lightly at your teacher routine. “I, um. I wanted to ask… If I could, like. I don’t know. Kiss you right now?”

You felt your cheeks grow hot, a toothy grin busting through your lips. “Yes, you have my permission.”

He smiled as he brought a hand up to caress your cheek lightly. You leaned into his touch, making him smile wider. He slowly leaned forward, and you lifted yourself onto your toes to meet him halfway. At first, you didn’t move. Despite the warning, despite the anticipation, you were caught off guard. His hand traveled to the nape of your neck and pulled your head back slightly, allowing him to deepen the kiss he had started. Your fingers quickly traced up his chest, tugging at the front of his shirt gently. You felt the counter against the small of your back, putting a hand beside you on it’s edge for stabilization as Dan let his free hand wander to your waist. His soft lips worked smoothly against yours, tongue flicking against your teeth, stubble surely leaving irritation on your skin. He pulled away to lean his forehead against yours, breathing slightly heavier. With his fingers tangled in your hair and yours gently discovering the veins at the base of his neck, the two of you stayed there right up until your kettle began to scream that it was ready.

He was grinning when you began to pull away, his hands not leaving your personal space, even as you turned to shut the kettle up. They traveled down your back, around your hips, back up to your shoulders, tracing the seams in your romper, tracing the seams in your skin. He was close behind you, making you shudder slightly as you poured both of your cups. When he began planting his lips on the base of your neck, you finally used your arse to shove him away as you picked up the mugs, turned, and held one towards him. He laughed smugly at your blushing face.

“Mmm, that was nice,” he said, blowing at his steaming cup. “Let’s continue that sometime.”

You grumbled and led him to the couch in the living room, tucking your legs under you. “Take a load off, make yourself at home.”

Dan handed you his mug as he slipped out of his sports coat, revealing his (always surprisingly muscular) arms. He draped an arm over your shoulders as he sat beside you - leaving nearly no space between the two of you - and took his tea back, sipping slowly. “What do you wanna do now?”

Shrugging, you reached for the remote on your coffee table. “Wanna watch something?”

“Wait, have you watched Rick and Morty yet?”

You looked over at him. “Have _you_ watched Steven Universe yet?”

The look on his face was blank.

“Seriously, dude. Me and Ross haven’t stopped talking about it. Catch up.”

“Okay,” he said, gesturing to the TV as you opened Amazon Prime on it. “But you’ve literally met Justin Roiland in passing and season two starts in less than a month, yet you haven’t watched it. Who is more at fault here?”

You groaned. “It intimidates me. You guys don’t shut up about how life changing it is and I kinda like my life right now.”

“Y/n,” Danny set his mug down and put a hand on your thigh. You pouted at his big eyes. “Rick and Morty is the best fucking show. Please.”

“Ugh, fine, I’ll rent it.”

“Hold up,” Danny grabbed the remote from your hand and logged out of your account, logging into what you assumed was his. “I already own it.”

You eyed him as he navigated to his video library. “I get to choose what we watch next time we netflix and chill, okay?”

“What are you even saying,” his eyes fixed on the TV. “This is Amazon Prime.”

“Oh my god,” you laughed. “You’re so clueless. It’s adorable.”

He looked at you, innocence absolutely dripping from his face. “What’s ‘netflix and chill’?”

“Don’t worry about it, hon.” You patted his cheek and settled with your tea again. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

His brows furrowed, but he let it go as the first episode began to load. He immediately perked up again. “Oh, man, I haven’t watched these in a while. You’re gonna love this shit.”

You smiled into your mug. “Yes, dear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> probably thought the ricked thing in the notes at the beginning was a typo  
> it wasn't  
> wubba lubba dub dub, bitch!


	9. Correct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no rick and morty spoilers, lmao  
> also. tags have changed. be aware. stay woke.

“What the _actual fuck!_ ” You yelled as you jumped to your feet. “They can’t do that shit!”

Danny watched you with glee as you paced around, cursing at the TV as it displayed the credits of the eighth episode you had watched that night.

“They can’t just drop that shit and then fucking, go back to _fucking BALL FONDLERS_ and pretend that shit didn’t fucking happen!” Dan hit pause and watched you stomp about. “They fucking, with the Summer thing, and Jerry fuckin- the fucking heroin, and Beth- What the _fuck_ , Dan! What the actual fuck!”

He was grinning and nodding. “Right?”

“You’re too happy,” you said, pointing an accusing finger at him. “I’m gonna go take a piss, and when I come back you better not be so happy.”

Laughter erupted behind you as you thundered through your apartment, still cursing this goddamn show that was way too deep and emotionally provoking to be on Adult Swim.

When you returned, you were in running shorts and a plain t-shirt. Dan gestured at your costume change questioningly.

“Rompers are too hard to pee in,” you explained. He smiled as you plopped down and settled into his side again. “I’m mad.”

“At me or the show?”

“The show.” You crossed your arms and pouted. “And at you for making me watch the show.”

He giggled wildly, burying his nose in your hair. “I’m guessing you don’t want to watch another episode, then.”

You glanced at the clock for the first time since you got home. “Holy shit, it’s 1:40.”

Dan perked up. “Fuck, I should go home. Barry’s gonna think I got lucky or something.”

You threw yourself onto his lap, stopping him from standing. “Don’t leave. I can’t be alone after that mind rattling Rick shit.”

He laughed. “Did it really hit you that hard? Or do you just not want me to leave?”

You said nothing for a moment. “I’m a baby.”

“You’re _my_ baby,” he said, pulling you into a hug and kissing the top of your head.

Something in you stirred as you sat on his lap. “Stay here tonight. Snuggle me to sleep so I don’t have weird burpy and alcoholic grandpa nightmares.”

Dan adjusted to look you in the eyes. “Are you inviting me to bed with you? On the first date?”

“I’m not gonna put out or anything,” you said defensively. “I’m just- you know, fuck you. It’s late and I’m trying to spare you the half hour drive, if you wanna go home alone and fall asleep in a sad, cold bed, then you’re welcome to.”

He was laughing as you curled into a defensive ball on the couch, pouting at him. “I’ll stay. Let me call B.”

You gave him a sly smile. “Okay.” You got up and wandered towards your bedroom. “I’m gonna make sure my bed doesn’t smell like stinky pits.”

The lanky man standing in your living room and fishing in his pocket for his phone laughed. “I appreciate that,” he said, navigating his peacock iPhone.

You quickly trotted into your room and threw your discarded clothing into the closet and shutting the door. Your hands smoothed over your sheets and you grabbed a can of febreeze, spraying into the ambient air. The flameless candle on your bedside got switched on, your bathroom got tidied, and makeup got scooped into the top drawer of your vanity. You quietly ventured back into the living room to tell Danny the coast was clear, but stopped around the corner when you heard him talking.

“Yes, I am aware of what time it is, _Mom_ ,” you heard him groan jokingly. “I know. No, it was great.” He stopped. “Nah, we just ended up watching Rick and Morty and you know how that is. It got late.”

Should you enter the room? Probably. It was creepy to listen around the corner.

“Yeah. I mean, not like that. We’re not gonna do anything… No, really, Bear. Today was… Yeah. It was like, so awesome. She’s so awesome.”

You almost stopped breathing. Barry was accusing him of some kind of sexcapade.

“B, seriously. It’s not like that. It’s just… it’s a far drive, you know? It’s late. She offered her bed, but made it pretty clear nothing was gonna happen. I don’t wanna mess this up man.” Finally, you took a breath and turned the corner, occupying yourself with your own cellphone. Dan looked up and smiled at you. “I won’t. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay, man? Take care.”

Danny finally dropped his phone back into his pocket and wrapped his arms around your waist tightly, lifting you off the ground. “The bear has been alerted. Let us snuggle all the way to sleepy time junction.”

You giggled and buried your face in his neck. This was nice, you thought. Just relaxing. Being comfortable. When he set you down, you took his hand and pulled him to your room. “Here’s where the magic happens,” you said, gesturing to your bed. “Fair warning, I sleep in the nude.”

He flushed. “What?”

Giggling, you poked him in the gut. “Just joshin’ ya, dork. Well, kinda. I’ll wear pajamas tonight for your sake,” you said, waggling your eyebrows at him.

You watched him as he laughed nervously, trying very hard to stop imagining certain things so he could keep his promise to you, and supposedly Barry. “Right, um. I’ll just go sleep on the couch.”

“Nice try, Daniel.” You dug through the bottom drawer of your dresser, which acted as the lost-and-found of your apartment. “Want some pajama pants?”

“Will they fit me?”

You pulled out a pair of flannel pants that were decorated with Monty Python quotes. “They were left by a man nearly your size, so probably.” You could feel his eyes on the back of your head, so you quickly spun around and tossed them to him.

“How many men leave their pants at your apartment?”

You thought a moment. “Just the one, but he did it a few times. He was a a bit ditsy.” Dan began to scowl and you inched closer to him. The look on his face triggered something in you. “What, you aren’t jealous, are you?”

“No,” he said immediately, holding the pants up to himself. “I was just, you know. Concerned. About how many pantless men were running around Los Angeles. Did you wash these?”

Rolling your eyes, you creeped closer to him. “Of course, dummy. I wouldn’t offer you someone else’s gross ass pants from, like, a year ago.”

Dan visibly exhaled in relief at the news of how long ago the encounter had been. You giggled. “You were so jealous.” And he looked damn hot in green.

“Was not,” he said, sitting on the end of your bed defiantly. He watched you as you slinked closer and sat on his lap. You had changed your mind about tonight. “I’m totally not the jealous type.”

“Uh huh,” you said, playing with his hair and biting back a giggle. “And I’m not the ‘tease someone into sexual frustration’ type.”

He looked at you, pursing his lips. “Don’t.”

“What?” You asked, twirling a few bundles of hair around your fingers and tugging gently.

He picked you up, deposited you on the bed, and backed away quickly. “That. I’m sleeping on the couch.”

You pouted, deliberately not covering the part of your hips that had revealed themselves in the commotion. “You’re no fun.”

“You said no hanky panky,” he said. “If you keep acting all slinky and flirty and sexy, it’s gonna happen.”

Giving him your sweetest smile and rocking your hips slightly, you hummed. “You think I’m sexy?”

“I, um- fuck, y/n.” Dan was so visibly flustered, running his hands through his hair and clutching the pajama pants you had given him. “You gotta stop this. I’m gonna have to go masturbate in your living room if you don’t.”

You slid off the bed and stepped towards him. He watched you carefully, swallowing hard and looking like a teenager that had never seen a woman before. Your fingers tapped down his arm, which twitched beneath your touch. They traced back up his chest and found themselves at his jawline. Despite what he had assured you about his lack of sweat glands, you saw beads on his forehead. He was obviously practicing huge restraint.

“Daniel,” you whispered. He tried to take a step back and thudded against the wall.

“Y-yes?”

“I might make an exception to my first date rule for you,” you breathed, looking up into his chocolatey eyes. Something finally sparked in him. His restraint turned into submission. He dropped the pants he had been kneading so tightly in his hands and grabbed your waist, lifting you onto his hips as he stepped towards your bed. Your tongue dove into his mouth while you had the leverage, legs squeezing his midsection and hands grasping at the hair at his neck. He placed a knee on your bed, not dropping you into your mattress until your head would hit pillows.

Dan hovered over you, moaning as you bit at his lower lip. One of his hands was placed by your head, keeping him from crushing you, while the other gripped your hip and began to glide down your thigh. You scraped your fingers across his scalp, starting at the hairline above his ears and grabbing hair as they went. His entire head snapped backwards, leaving his mouth open and releasing a guttural groan from deep in his throat. You watched his Adam’s apple bob as he licked his lips.

“Fuck, babe,” he whined, looking down at you. “Where have you been hiding this?”

You grinned, biting your lip deviously. “I bet if you look hard enough, you’ll find my hiding spot.”

He breathed out a chuckle, grinding his already stiff member against you through four layers. Your breath caught, making him smile. “Am I getting warm?”

“Boiling,” you exhaled. His fingers went back to your waist, forcing your shirt further up and revealing more skin. His nose nudged against your earlobe as he sucked at the base of your jaw. He adjusted quickly, so quickly you hardly noticed. He pulled you up and into his cross-legged lap, letting your legs wrap around his waist. Both of his hands gripped your waist now, tracing his thumbs against your ribs. You were losing a battle with his tongue as it brushed against your teeth and he sucked the breath out of you. Your fingers tugged at the back of his shirt, and he quickly got the hint. Breaking from you just long enough to pull his shirt over his head, his lips immediately returned to exploring the nooks and crannies in your neck, his fingers brushing under the bottom seam of your bra.

You hadn’t even worn cute underwear, you realized suddenly. He didn’t seem to care when he lifted your shirt off of you, though, freeing you of your bra and pressing you against the bed again. Your fingers wandered down to his belt, fumbling with the buckle and whipping it out quickly. He pulled your shorts off before letting you lay him on his back so you could take his own pants off.

You were very deliberate, kissing your way down his chest and stomach as you slowly pulled his jeans down his legs. You saw him grab his own skull and bite his lip as he watched you inch your way closer to the growing erection at the base of him. You let your lips press against the skin right about his underwear’s waistline. Dan flinched. You traced two fingers under the elastic. He inhaled sharply. You tugged harshly and watched his cock bounce to life in front of you, free of its fabric bounds. His mouth gaped open as he watched you softly brush your lips against his length, dick twitching at the touch. You let your tongue roll out to lap up precum from his head, causing him to moan loudly. “Shit, baby, I’m so hard for you.”

You smiled and captured the entirety of the head in your mouth. He lurched forward, leaning back on his elbows to watch you. One hand went forward to swipe the hair out of your face. You looked up to him as you slowly lowered your mouth over him. He groaned and bit his lip harder with every centimeter, trying desperately to not break eye contact. You went as deep as you could before slowly sucked your way back up his length. You could feel his heartbeat on your tongue. Your right hand grasped him at the hilt as you pulled your mouth off him with a quiet pop. He exhaled loudly.

“Did that feel good?” You purred. He nodded furiously. You grinned and brushed your tongue from the base of his cock right to the tip. “And that?” You got another excited response.

You stroked him gently, lips tracing his lightly outlined ab muscles as you moved back to his lips. His fingers immediately tangled with the hair at the nape of your neck as you kissed him deeply, still stroking his twitching dick. He was moaning into your mouth when he grabbed your wrist suddenly.

“I’m gonna jizz in your hands if you don’t stop.”

You giggled. “Been a while, Danny?”

He looked at you with hungry eyes. “Since I’ve been with the most gorgeous woman on the planet and my dick has been the hardest it’s ever been? Yes. In fact, I don’t think it’s ever happened before.” Your chest flushed. “I’m not kidding. That thing is a full inch longer than I’ve ever seen it.”

You let go of him when he flipped you onto your back, stripping you of your underwear quickly. You felt electricity shoot through your nerves as he pinned your wrists to the pillow above your head with one hand, kicking off his underwear. He dipped his head to kiss lines from your collarbone right up to the peak of your breasts, free hand tracing spirals in your bare pelvis. You arched below him and he pulled back.

“I’m in charge, baby. Be good.”

You whimpered, but collected yourself as fast as you could. “Are we going to need a safe word?” You joked.

He raised a brow at you, giving you a devilish smile. “Do you want one?”

A heat pooled in your loins. The way he gazed at you, hungry for everything you had to offer, you couldn’t see straight anymore. “I want you to fuck me, Dan. That’s what I want.”

You almost heard him growl, but he just smirked. “Soon, beautiful. I promise.” The hand that had been giving you shivers dipped below your waist, gently massaging the tender part of your leg with its thumb. You stifled a moan and stopped yourself from grinding against it as it slowly moved towards your sensitive areas. When it finally got close enough, his hand drew away, leaving you anxious, but it quickly returned as Dan pushed two fingers deep into you. You couldn’t stop the loud groan that escaped you.

“You’re soaking,” He whispered into your ear. You desperately wanted to grip his hair and hold on for dear life as he curled in and out of you, but you had to settle for digging your nails into the hand that held you still.

“Fuck, Danny, f-uck…” You mind was going blank. You couldn’t focus on much other than how much you wished it was his cock in you instead of his fingers. His thumb pressed against your clit, making you gasp. “Oh, God, Dan, b-babe!”

“Yeah?” He muttered between hickeys. “Beg me, y/n. Tell me what you want.”

“I-I w… Fuck, Dan, I want you in me!”

He lifted up and smiled, still working your clit as you pointed desperately at your bedside table. He reached over and tugged the drawer open, fishing blindly and pulling out a condom. You sat up, taking it from him, tearing it open, and rolling it down his long cock. He kissed you sweetly, positioning himself to pull you over him from where he held you up against the headboard. “Are you ready, baby?”

“I’m so ready,” you breathed, clutching around his neck.

He slowly lowered you onto him. Your eyes fluttered shut as he filled you, forehead resting against his. His grip was firmly on your ass as he slowly pumped in and out of you, groaning in response to your walls closing around him. He was close already, you could tell. He hadn’t been lying before. But when his thumb pressed against you again, you yelped, knowing he’d finish you if it was the last thing he did.

His breathing picked up. He was grunting in time to his thrusts. As your head fell back in pleasure, he enveloped your nipple in his lips and flicked it back and forth with his tongue. You gasped, tightening around him. You felt him lose control, thrusting into you wildly as he unloaded. But, against expectation, he didn’t stop. He kept fucking you, grinding your clit until you were screaming.

“Danny!” You gasping. “Fuck, I-I’m gonna cum…”

He nibbled at your neck and kept his pace. “Cum, y/n. Cum for me.”

Your yelps got higher pitched as you grew closer to climax. “Dan! Fuck, D-Danny!” You felt yourself peak, vibrations flowing through your body as you shuddered violently, clutching his hair as he rode you out. Once he slowed, you crumpled in his arms. He cradled you into comfort on your bed as he pulled out,  quickly tying off the condom and tossing it onto his shirt, which had been discarded onto the floor.

“S-so gentlemanly,” you muttered, holding his face close to yours. You sighed happily. You were absolutely covered in sweat, and Dan was breathing heavily with you.

“Oh, my God,” he exhaled finally. “You killed me, baby. I’m dead.”

“I can’t believe you kept going,” you grinned. “I didn’t know guys could even do that.”

“What I’m hearing is that I am the most magnificent lover you have yet to experience, correct?”

You giggled. “Correct.”

Dan forced you to move slightly as he pulled the covers out from under the two of you, draping them over instead. You began to doze off, feeling content as a calming heat radiated off your body. Danny curled around you, arms wrapping around your waist and pulling you until your spine was flush with his chest. And there you fell asleep, not even worried about the neighbors you probably woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha goodnight forever


	10. See You Soon

It had been a very long time since you had slept in. You had never particularly been a morning person, but you had managed to train your body to wake up no later than 7 am and not fall apart. Between your last job full of breakfast shifts and your current job where you had to schedule videos to upload by 10 am, it had become a natural thing. That’s why when your phone ringing across the room woke you up, you were surprised it was nearly noon.

You groaned and pulled yourself from Danny’s loose grip. He exhaled and rolled over, still asleep, but beginning to stir. Grabbing your discarded shirt off the ground, you threw it on. You watched him as you rubbed your eyes and moved towards your dresser, where the phone was perched.

The caller ID told you it was Annie. You yawned before accepting the call.

“Hello?”

An air horn went off on the other side, causing you to flinch away from the phone with your eyes shut and Danny to sit up. “Happy birthday, Big Sis!”

Eyes still shut, you slowly moved the phone back to your face. “Thank you, Suzanne. I’m hanging up now.”

“No! How did the date go?"

You opened your eyes again and looked at Danny, who was scratching his scalp like a dog. "He’s still in my apartment. So, well.”

“Oh my god my decrepit sister got laid. I’m so proud of you!”

“You act like I’m a virgin. I’ve been having sex since you were in elementary school.”

Annie feigned throwing up. “Eugh, gross. Shut up.”

You giggled, looking around for your underwear and finding Danny’s instead. You tossed it at him, pulling your own back on and crawling towards him on the bed as he attempted to hide his shame. “He’s sweet though. He tried very hard to resist my womanly wiles.”

“You didn’t give me much of a choice,” he muttered, pulling on his boxer briefs and stretching.

"He sounds hot," Annie said. "Does the morning after look as good as the Google Image search?"

"Better," you responded smugly, dragging your fingers through his curly mop.

“Aw! Cute. Okay, well, you two are obviously busy. I just wanted to wish my sister a happy 30th and make sure you didn’t get kidnapped and murdered.” Danny looked at you.

“Thanks, Annie.”

“No prob, Bob. I’ll talk to you later.”

You hung up as Dan’s brows ruffled.

“‘Happy 30th?’”

Looking up, you tossed your phone at the end of the bed. “Oh, yeah. It’s, uh. It’s my birthday.”

“What the fuck!” He slammed his hands on the bed, making you giggle. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

You shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. And then you’d feel obligated to do something for me after already taking me on an awesome date and, I dunno.” You fiddled with the hem of your shirt. “Birthdays are weird.”

He looked at you. “30 is a big milestone, y/n. Am I allowed to tell the Grumps and arrange something for you, or would that make you uncomfortable?”

Thinking, you pouted. “I mean, it’s whatever. I would just wanna chill out with everyone, nothing big. No presents."

“Okay.” Danny pulled you into his chest and kissed the top of your head. “Whatever you want, hon.”

You pushed your body weight and forced him to fall back into bed. “I want you to fuck me like that jelly bean guy tried to fuck Morty.”

He immediately burst into laughter. “Gross, gross! I almost got a half chub until you said ‘jelly bean’.”

Giggling, you rubbed your face all over his chest. “I’m still angry about that show.”

“Let it out, baby,” he said, patting your back and holding back his own laughs. “Let it out.”

After pulling away for a minute, you noticed black smudges on Danny’s chest. “Ah, shit. I got smokey eyes all over you.” You tried to get up. “Lemme get makeup wipes.”

He held you against him. “No. You escaped me once, never again.”

“Danny, I am probably covered in smudge, please let me wash my face.” You giggled and tried to push him away.

“No!” He flopped over on top of you, pinning you under his way-too-long body. “You’re beautiful, shut up!”

Despite being crushed by a giant and not being able to see anything other than frizzy, dark curls, you were laughing hysterically. “Okay, okay! But really,” you pointed at the same drawer he had fished a condom out of the night before. “I can’t deal with this hair. Please let me pull it back for you.”

He giggled from under his fro. “Oh, you know I can’t say no to you pulling my hair.”

You pretended to throw up, making him burst into more wild laughter, giving you a chance to roll out from under him and grab some hair ties from your bedside. “Man bun or pig tails?”

“Piggy tails!” He sat up for you, making you giggle. You motioned for him to lean forward, allowing you to start splitting his hair in two down his scalp with his face practically in your lap.

“Christ alive, you are a god damn mess.”

“The Judaism is strong with this one.”

You managed to get his hair parted enough to be okay, then got started on bunching one half. “You can sit up now. Should I braid them?”

“Holy fuck, yes.”

Laughing, you did your best to split it into thirds and work it into some semblance of a braid, tying off the end. You couldn’t stop cackling at the outcome, moving on to his other side. Once you finished, you practically silent with laughter. “Where’s your phone? This has to go on instagram.”

He was giggling as he leaned off your bed, grabbing his jeans. Once instagram was pulled up and the camera opened, he was laughing as hard as you were. “Wow, I’m hot!”

“Here, here!” You grabbed the phone from him and flipped the camera. “Try to pose all suave.”

It took him a minute to be able to look into the distance with an inquisitive look on his face without breaking, but when you got the shot, you were howling. Dan laughed as he stole the phone back and got to work posting it.

“Okay, okay, I can’t fucking look at you, I have to take them out.”

He pouted. “But I’m so hot!”

That set you off again. “Fuck, Dan, stop! Let me- Lemme get rid of them please.”

He was fighting you, giggling crazily and yelling at you to stop. You finally pulled one of the hair ties off and it wasn’t long until your wrestling caused the braid to loosen.

“Daniel! Let me get the other braid, you just look like a doofus now.”

“No! Never!” He was grabbing your wrists and pushing you away while you tried to desperately catch the other tie with your teeth. You finally pulled away completely, staring him down from across the bed, him still in a defensive position, half his hair still braided.

After a moment of thought, you ripped your shirt over your head and launched yourself at him. With his second of distraction, you grabbed his other braid and tore it apart. “Ha-ha! I win!”

“You cheated!” He flipped you over by your waist and pinned you on your back. “You can’t pull out your rockin’ boobs halfway through a battle!”

You giggled wildly. “Rockin’, huh?”

Dan smiled. He swooped down and caught your lips with his, giving you a slow and sweet kiss. “The rockin’-est." You hummed. He rolled you both onto your sides and wrapped his arms around your waist, shoving his face into your chest. "All my dreams have come true."

You rattled with laughter and pulled on the hair that was tickling your neck. "I still haven't fixed this issue." You rolled again until you were straddling him, pulling him to sit up. You worked his hair into a ponytail and tugged the hair tie on your wrist over the mass. His hands rested on your hips as he dutifully sat still. Once the Jewfro was tamed into a bun at the back of his head, Dan tightened his hold on you, raising his face towards yours expectantly. You giggled and planted a quick kiss on his lips, arms hanging over his shoulders. "You know, you're very handsome."

"I know."

You laughed. "Alright, asshole. I take it back."

He grinned. "You can't take things back when they're facts, baby."

You didn't argue.

 

After you had showered and Dan tried to sneak peeks, you got dressed and fed both your mouths, trying very hard to not giggle the fairly obvious cum stain on the right breast of Danny's shirt.

"I might have something that will fit you," you said, watching him shovel eggs in his mouth.

"God, these are way better than the diner. Why did you not tell me you could cook?" He brought his fist to his lips as he spoke, trying to spare you from half-chewed scramble.

You smiled. "Never came up?"

He drank from the mug of tea he demanded had to be included in the meal, sighing happily. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"I said," you repeated. "I might have something that will fit you. I have some giant shirts."

"From other forgetful past lovers?"

You snorted. "No, from charity events. I've got one from a bike ride I volunteered at that is literally a dress on me."

He scratched at the stain that the used condom had left. "Okay, maybe. This isn't very subtle."

Giggling, you wandered back into your room, digging in your dresser. The shirt in question was a royal purple with the name of the charity ride plastered on it. Dan had followed you in, allowing you to hold it up to him. "It should fit," you said finally.

He pulled off his own shirt and reached for the one in your hands. You paused, wrapped your arms around his torso for a minute, and kissed his chest. He laughed. "Need one last taste?"

"I'm just assuming I won't be able to do this all the time. I gotta take advantage."

You released him and handed the shirt over. He pulled it over his head (still sporting the bun you had given it, though strands were starting to escape), wandering towards the bathroom to look at himself. "Fits surprisingly well," he muttered, tugging at the hem.

"You look nice in that color," you said, arms crossed and leaning against the door frame.

"Baby, I look good in all colors. You can't ruin a face like this."

You laughed at his confidence. "I should pack some shit."

He nodded. "Just one night."

You threw him a thumbs up and grabbed a bag from your closet, walking to your dresser to shove some pajamas inside. Danny had warned you that some chill time with friends was planned, and that it was very likely that you won't wanna drive all the way home when it was over. He offered to have you spend the night at his and Barry's after, thus making the commute back to work a little easier in the morning. You had agreed, leaving you shoving all your makeup and a stick of deodorant in your bag, along with clothes for the next day.

The two of you began gathering your things to head out; his jacket, your purse, his wallet, your keys. The door got locked behind you and you both trotted down the steps. Dan opened your car door for you, then planted a kiss on your lips.

"I'll see you at my place, okay?"

You smiled and nodded. You slipped into your seat and he shut the door behind you, moving to get into his own car. The Civic came to life with the turn of a key, and you pulled up the address Dan had given you on Google Maps. You hadn't been to his place yet. All the meetings you had attended so far were housed elsewhere, and Grump hangouts usually took place at the space, at Suzy and Arin's home, or Holly and Ross'. You had heard stories, for sure, about the shenanigans that had taken place at Barry and Danny's house, but had never taken part yourself.

You were able to follow Dan's SUV for a long while down the highway, but you lost him when he took an exit to head off towards his errands. You assumed he was getting some bullshit cake that you didn’t want, but allowed him to anyways.

Fifteen minutes later, you were rolling up to a pleasant house and parking at the curb, recognizing Barry’s car in the driveway. You gathered yourself and stepped out of the car, texting Danny to let him know you found the place. When you reached the door, you placed a hard knock below the peephole.

“Hey, old woman. Happy birthday.”

You smiled. “Thanks, B.”

He stepped aside to let you in, then gave you a quick tour as he lead you to the living room. He pointed out bathrooms and kitchens, then pointed at a door down the hall. “You can put your shit in there.”

You looked at him. “Danny’s room?”

“I mean, you tell me.”

Giggling, you walked towards the door and pushed it open. You hardly took a look before you announced it was his. You heard Barry laughing from the other room as your eyes wandered. There were decorations littering the walls, ranging from framed records to illustrated images you recognized vaguely. A gorgeous bass guitar stood dutifully in one corner, a bookshelf filled to the brim in another, and a stack of fanart on the dresser. You smiled lightly, backing into the hall and closing the door behind you, leaving your bag by the bed.

“So,” you said, stretching your arms above your head as you entered the living room. “Are you in on the plans?”

Barry nodded. “But if I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.”

You scowled at him. “Baz, please.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Baz?” You looked at him blankly. He was laughing. “Like Basil? Is that not a nickname for Barry here?”

He shook his head. “No, you foreign fuck. It’s not.”

“Okay, wow, rude.” You crossed your arms and plopped into the couch. “I was trying to be friendly, asshole. Is that a nickname for Barry?”

He kept laughing, and you soon joined him. He pulled his laptop back onto his legs. "Help yourself to whatever, I'm just answering emails."

You nodded before fiddling with your phone a bit. You wondered if he suspected anything about Danny staying the night, then you doing the same the following night. Surely he did, but he didn't say anything. Perhaps he was saving it for when he could tease his roommate directly.

Barry tapped away at his computer as you stood and wandered into the kitchen to get a glass of water for your suddenly parched throat. After opening and closing a couple cupboards, Barry yelled out that the cups were above the dishwasher. You thanked him and grabbed a glass, taking water from the fridge.

Their place was nice. It wasn't huge, and it wasn't the most modern, but it was comfortable and surprisingly clean for housing two bachelors. As you put the water pitcher back in the fridge, you started sipping at your water and inspecting the photos on the fridge. There were a few with the other Grumps, some with whom you could only assume were Barry and Danny's respective families, and even one of you, Kevin, and Barry making dumb faces at one of your first meetings, Danny blurred from laughing in the background. You smiled, remembering Suzy running around with a Polaroid, commemorating your joining of the company by taking horribly candid photos of you. You assumed this one had found its way home with the boys after everyone looked over the printed pictures.

You wondered if it had been purposely chosen. It seemed awfully presumptuous of you to think so, but Danny _had_ said he'd been wanting to ask you out since before you quit at the diner...

You were drawn from your thoughts when your phone buzzed. A text from Danny. _Just dropped some stuff off at Arin and Scuze's. I'll be home in a bit!_

_What "stuff"?_

_ Don't worry about it. See you soon ;x _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so funny story. I had no internet for a week and a half and AO3 wouldn't let me post from my phone sooooo  
> here we are! posting a chapter like two weeks later than expected!  
> it's fine. it's probably fine.


	11. No Way To Run A Business

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM BACK BITCHES

Suzy nearly tackled you when Barry, Danny, and yourself arrived at her home. "Happy birthday, my love!"

You giggled. "Thank you, dearest. Sorry for not saying anything earlier."

She waved you off as you all entered the house. "I probably should have known. It's not like your birthdate wasn't on the paperwork when you got hired.

A snort escaped you. "Probably."

Some people had already shown up, including Ross and Holly, who both hopped up to wish you a happy birthday when they saw you arrived. You thanked them.

"How was the date?" Holly asked. Ross rolled his eyes.

You grinned and glanced at Danny, who had gotten distracted by Barry's over affection towards Mark Fischbach. "It was awesome. He was a true gentleman."

"Barry said he spent the night at yours- ow!" Ross flinched when Holly whacked him in the shoulder with the back of her hand. "What? It's not like she doesn't know!"

You laughed at the couple's interaction as Holly scolded Ross for prying. "It's fine, I don't mind. We watched too much Rick and Morty, it got to the point where it was too late for me to send Danny home."

"Oh my god, finally!" Ross gleamed at you. “We’ve been trying to get you to watch that shit for ages. How’d you like it?”

“It was awesome,” you said excitedly. “Honestly brilliant. We got through the first eight episodes and I was just. So angry.”

Ross was quick to go into a full fledged Q&A about the cartoon that had come so highly recommended to you, Holly interjecting ever so often to give her own input on the episodes you discussed. It wasn’t long before Mark found his way over, enveloping you in a giant bear hug.

“Happy birthday, y/n!” He released you from his strong arms. “I know you said no gifts, but I brought wine anyways.”

You couldn’t respond before you felt a hand on the small of your back. You looked up to find Dan, who was handing you a drink.

“Lucky for you, this woman has troubles turning down alcohol.” You almost turned red when he grinned at you, but you took the cup anyways. Mark laughed.

“Well good, it’s my personal favorite. Jam Jar is basically grape juice.” He threw a thumb over his shoulder. “It’s in the kitchen, but you can take it home and hoard it if you’d prefer.”

You found yourself smiling ear to ear. “Thank you, Mark. That’s super sweet of you.”

“What can I say?” He nudged you with an elbow. “I’m a sweet guy.”

He let you get bombarded by your other friends, who all wished you a happy 30th. Jack, the intern at the office, was making you laugh with a recap of what you had missed after leaving early Friday. You got interrupted when Danny found you again, showing you an image of Brian flipping you off with a party hat on. Your burst of laughter was immediate. Danny giggled.

“He said he’s sorry he couldn’t make it.”

You waved your hand. “He has a child, no worries.”

Dan nodded. “That’s what I told him. He said that he was offended I assumed the reason was Audrey.”

“What else would it be?”

He shrugged and snickered. “He wouldn't say. I think we’re meant to assume it has to do with murders.”

Your attention was stolen when Suzy excitedly called for everyone to quiet down. “Thank you all for coming over last minute for the birthday of a very special lady. She’s beautiful, she’s talented, and she’s my waifu, y/n!” There were whoops and cheers called out by the crowd of your friends, who all turned to a blushing and grinning incarnation of you. “Okay, calm the fuck down, guys. This is supposed to be a low key get together. And to prove how low key and chill this party is, let’s bring the cake!”

Suzy lowered the lights and you watched as Arin emerged from the kitchen, carrying what seemed to be too large of a cake to be last minute that had a fiery blaze of candles atop it. You would have died from embarrassment if you weren’t so busy laughing at the off-key rendition of Happy Birthday being chorused by your peers. When you noticed Danny filming you, you quickly threw up your middle finger, making him stop singing and nearly bust his gut.

Arin arrived in front of you, grinning wildly despite probably being at risk of burning all his facial hair off. You looked at the cake as the chorus was getting close to ending, reading your name on it, following a “Happy Birthday” and followed by a “you old fart!” You giggled and looked over to Dan, who was giving you a thumbs up. When the singing finished, you took a deep breath and attempted to blow out thirty candles. After a few more breaths, they all went out, and people threw arms over your shoulders and cheered.

“Fuck _all_ of you,” you yelled, laughing. “I’m too old for this shit!”

Laughter made its rounds across the room. Suzy motioned for Arin to set the cake down on a table near her so she could start dissecting it. After she gave you the honorary first slice (she purposefully cut out the word “fart” and struggled to get it out from the middle of the cake, making a mess and an oblong portion), everyone began to crowd to get their own. Danny quickly pulled you aside.

“So, I, uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck. You were very conscious of how closely he was towering over you and how close the wall behind you was. “Don’t be mad, but I got you something.”

Your jaw dropped. “Daniel! What did I tell you?”

“I know, I know!” He laughed and fiddled with something in his jacket pocket. “But I was wandering around the mall waiting on the cake and I found something really cool.”

You eyed his hidden hand suspiciously. “What are you hiding in there?”

“It, uh-” He finally pulled his hand out of his pocket. “Don’t freak out, I’m not proposing to you after one date. But it’s a ring.”

He opened his palm to reveal a ring box. You looked up to him, putting your paper plate of cake on the end table not far from you and taking it from his hand. You sprung it open, displaying a detailed sterling silver ring that would span the entirety of one of your knuckles. It held a shell design, the cross section of what a hermit crab would call home. The knotted geometry captivated you as you slipped it on to your right middle finger. You admired the way it sat on your hand.

“I love it,” you announced finally, grinning up to him. “It’s beautiful.”

He smiled. “Good. I thought it was a pretty wicked design.”

You looked back down at your hand, inspecting it again. “It’s really cool. How did you know I liked geometry?”

“I didn’t.”

You leaned up towards him. “Well, now you do.” He met you halfway in a short kiss. “Thank you.”

Smiling, Danny grabbed your hand and inspected the gift himself. “I’m glad it fits, I was kind of gambling.”

Shrugging, you giggled slightly. “I have a bunch of fingers, it was bound to fit one of them.”

And with that, he planted another quick kiss on your lips, his fingers tangling with yours, and allowed you to return to your cake.

 

You wore the ring often. You had taken to tracing its intricacies mindlessly as you read emails, watched tv, or reviewed gameplay footage. Dan had noticed, and would beam at you whenever he did.

You also went on dates often. At least once a week, Danny and yourself joined each other for dinner or lunch, be it at either of your homes or out. After an acceptable amount of dates passed by, you began spending nights together again. Neither of you admitted to any of your friends what had happened the night of your first date. You weren’t ashamed of it, nor did you regret it, but it felt nice to share a cheeky secret with Dan. And it was no ones business what you two did behind closed doors.

When it was a particularly slow day at the office, Suzy asked you if you’d like to join her on a flea market / antiquing date. You hadn’t gotten a chance to explore the antique shops in the area since you originally moved from home, and excitedly agreed.

You left your car at the office, hopping into Suzy’s Subaru and heading out to some of her favorite stores. “Okay,” she began. “Shopping list. I gotta find some vintage buttons or pendants, shadowboxes and frames, and anything that would look cool as backing for my buggies. Also, maybe a new chair for the living room?”

Nodding, your leg jittered. “I’ve been wanting to get a mirror for the mantlepiece for a while.”

“Ooh!” Suzy looked over with shining eyes. “Something giant and intricate to layer other stuff on?”

You giggled. “Obviously.”

“That would look awesome, especially with how modern your fireplace looks. Cool juxtaposition.”

You had invited Suzy and Holly to your place a few times (especially after Mark got you hooked on Jam Jar) for some girls nights. They had spent a lot of time trying to convince you to make a personal channel, but you were unsure. What would you even put up on it? Holly was queen of crafts and cosplay, and Suzy had the beauty guru / fashion vlogger slot on lockdown. When Holly saw your overcrowded mini bar, she suggested a drinks channel. Suzy added that you could do recipes too, hearing from a certain fluffy headed man that you enjoyed playing around with flavors. You decided to toy the idea around your head for a while before making any promises.

Suzy pulled up to the first shop, parking the car and leading you in. “This place is full of cool knick knacks and oddities. They get new stuff in all the time.”

Once you stepped in, you got the familiar scent of dust and history, but you were surprised by how many modern looking items this store had as well. It was a large building, but still crowded with furniture. There were a few other patrons scattered about, but it seemed most people didn’t go antiquing at 4:30 on Tuesdays. You followed Suzy to the right, knowing she probably knew the most efficient ways of looking at everything they had to offer. You realized she had headed straight to section with jewelry hanging off of mannequin hands and varying necklace holders.

She began sifting through a box of loose pendants as you continued admiring the wall decorations around you. There was everything from vintage maps to taxidermied deer heads, mirrors to clocks, tapestries to sconces. You had never seen such a wide variety of items in one store in your life.

“Shit, I saw something…”

You looked over to Suzy, who was digging with more purpose. “What was it?”

“It looked like,” she paused. “Like your ring. Hang on.” Your left hand immediately felt for the ring Danny had given you. “Ah-ha!” She picked out the silver pendant and brandished it to you. “Look at this shit!”

You took it in your hand, comparing it to your finger. She was right, it was very similar. “Holy crap.” It was longer than your ring, and a slightly different shell shape, but extremely similar. You wondered if they came from the same jeweler.

“Are you gonna get it?”

“How could I not?”

She grinned. “That’s the spirit!”

“I should get a chain for it,” you said, still inspecting the pendant as you wandered towards them. Suzy nodded and continued her search for interesting oddities, making a small pile of bronze and silver pendants next to her.

You found a thin chain in a matching silver and inspected the length. Around your neck, it’d be longer than you would have liked, but around someone else’s…

It was settled. “I’m gonna give it to Dan.”

“Aww, dip!” Suzy giggled. “Someone has a crush!”

You laughed with her. “Do not. Boys have cooties.”

“Ugh, I know. So gross.”

In the same store, you found a beautiful mirror what measured up to the area you had been thinking about filling for ages. It took a bit of convincing, but Suzy talked you into having the clerk wrap it in bubble wrap and help you get it into the back of her car. It took putting the back seats down and keeping it diagonal, but it fit. You wondered how you were gonna get it home; there was no way that shit was getting into your Civic.

“Make Danny do it,” Suzy suggested. “You got him a present, and he gets to have a sleepover. How could he say no?”

You laughed and plugged in your seat belt. “We were planning on having dinner at my place anyways,” you said, fiddling with your ring.

The first stop had been very successful; the crevice under your massive mirror was stuffed with bags of pendants, chains, buttons, and shadow boxes that Suzy had picked out, as well as a vintage looking topographical globe that you absolutely could not pass up. Your personal favorite was a pendant with a design that reminded you of the pyramid on the dollar bill, with an all-seeing eye. You told her it was “very illuminati.”

The two of you wandered some other shops, picking out more items for Suzy’s crafts along the way, and stopped at a Ralph's on the way back to pick up snacks.

When the two of you returned to the Grump Space, Jack helped Dan and yourself move the mirror into Danny’s car. You gingerly placed the globe in the passenger seat of your own car, grinning when you shut the door and spun around to find Danny awfully close.

“I’m excited to come over,” he said, hands gliding over your hips. You leaned back against your car, letting him dip down and catch your lips with his. “Even if I do have to help you lug that thing up two flights of stairs.”

You giggled. “Man, you’re a keeper.”

“Aw, you think so?” He laughed. “I think I’m just desperate for affection.”

“Yeah, well, we all have our follies.” You slid out from between him and the car and pulled him back towards the building. “Are you almost done for today?”

He shrugged. “Done enough. I could keep rerecording the same line at slightly different pitches for three hours until I get ten that I’m happy with, or I could enjoy a lovely home-cooked meal with my beautiful girlfriend.”

“Woah,” you said. “You have a girlfriend? I should probably back off.”

Danny treated you with his wonderful squinty laugh. “It’s you, asshole.”

“Whaaaaaaat?” Your stretched response elicited another laugh from him as you patted your joggers for your keycard. Danny pulled his out of his back pocket and swiped for you. “Oh,” you said, feeling the pendant in your pocket as you stepped into the lobby. “I got you something, too.”

“Hmm?” He wandered towards the door the Grump Space. “For lil’ ol’ me?”

You nodded and hummed in response. “If you’re good and don’t break the mirror, I’ll give it to you later.”

He groaned as he held the door open for you. “Not fair. Incentive based goal-making is no way to run a business.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my computer is broken. Lol  
> But hey!! Mobile works for me now so I guess I'll just keep posting from my phone  
> Theres a lot of time skipping in this. Probably a month. K? Next chapter is like two months later. Git raddy


	12. So Will He

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, did those diddly darn tags change again?

Dan had taken to spending long days at work and taking those long days home with him. There were evenings where you’d tag along to keep him company, and he’d sit at his desk and bob to demos while you laid on your stomach on his bed, scrolling through Pinterest on your laptop. You didn’t mind it. It was nice to share space.

It was summer in LA, which meant it was too stupidly hot to exist. So on days where you’d keep him company, you would both find yourself in varying levels of skimpy clothing with the ceiling fan on full speed and every door in the house open. Barry was often hiding in his room in a shirt and boxers, playing games or working much like the two of you.

You looked up at Dan, who was leaning over his computer, one hand over his mouth and the other efficiently tapping at his wireless mouse. He had started letting you pull back his hair on these days, and even would sit with his back to you expectantly when you showed up, a behavior that sometimes leaked into the Grump Space on days that went over 100 degrees. He sat in a pair of boxers and some band tee that you couldn’t even remember because they were all so similar. You had made a nest out of his pillows, wearing what normal people would wear to exercise, but what you wore to keep cool; a sports bra, a loose tank top, and shorts. You wiggled your toes, getting bored with Twitter and wondering what song Dan was working on today.

As if on cue, Dan tore off his headphones and stretched his arms far above his head, spinning his chair slowly towards you. He got up, crawled onto the bed, and flopped onto you, hardly giving you enough time to lift your laptop out of the way.

“You done?” You rubbed his back after setting your computer to the side.

“Not really,” he said, voice muffled by your stomach. He turned his head, but kept his eyes shut. “I can’t tell the difference between edits anymore. I need a break.”

You smoothed some loose strands of hair with your fingertips and glanced at the clock on his bedside. “Wanna get froyo? If we hurry, we can catch Yeti before they close.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to get up.”

Laughing, you were observing his face when his eyes opened again. “Do you want me to go get some and bring it back?”

He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. “No, I’ll come with.” His hands dropped to his sides and he looked at his closet. “Lemme find pants.”

“I think you should go in your underwear,” you said, sitting cross legged and grabbing your keys and wallet from the bedside. Dan hadn’t moved. “You gonna get up?”

He blinked at you, then threw his legs over the side of the bed to stand. “I think I’m braindead.”

You stood up with him and wrapped your arms around his waist. His went around your shoulders. “You’ve been working really hard recently.”

Danny exhaled. “We all have.”

Everyone in the office worked on several things at once, between the long form projects Arin and Ross were throwing themselves into, Barry working on game development, Suzy running a dozen things like she always did. Kevin, Jack, and yourself were working on scripting some upcoming sketches, you were trying to plan possible personal channel ideas (though you were still hesitant), Holly was making props and costumes for the next NSP video, Brian taking on the social media and starting to organize channel streams. Even Mark was starting projects outside of let's plays, including but not limited to music and sketches. The office was absolutely bustling with activity these days, but you worried about Danny the most. He was always up at the crack of dawn, immediately out of bed with a mug of tea, sitting at his desk and scribbling away in a notebook. Then, he’d work nonstop on various musical endeavors and recording for Grumps until he was too tired to keep his eyes open.

So you didn’t argue when he deflected the statement, but you sure as hell brought it back up. “You haven’t stopped running full speed since you got back from Japan,” you said, leaning back slightly to look him in the eye. “You’re not a kid anymore, Dan. You can’t work yourself into the ground.”

He exhaled, dropping his arms from around you and putting a thumb against his temple. “I know. I just have so much I want to do.”

“You have time.” You put a hand on his back, and his head turned so he could give you a sideways glance.

He smiled. “All the time in the world. Let’s get froyo.”

You forced him into a pair of basketball shorts, which he fought strongly against, but you convinced him that if he wore jeans, he’d collapse the minute you stepped out of the house you had worked so hard to keep cool. After a wrestling match over his jeans that lasted too long for how hot it was, he finally submitted and you knocked on Barry’s door to ask if he wanted any frozen treats. He asked for strawberry with mini M&Ms, and you told him you’d be back in a bit, twirling your keys around a finger. Danny wouldn’t stop telling you that his legs looked stupid in shorts and you repeated that he wore kimonos with no pants all the time, and he was showing the same amount of skin now.

“Yeah, but everyone knows the kimono is a joke. People might think this is normal for me.”

You laughed and looked over at him. Your passenger seat was permanently in the furthest back position to make room for his long limbs. “Why are you so insecure about your legs? They look great.”

“Because I have dumb, skinny, hairy calves. And they’re dumb and skinny and hairy.” You laughed and he joined you. “I dunno, I haven’t really worn shorts since I was a teenager.”

“Are you serious?” You looked over as you slowed in a school zone. “How long have you lived in LA?”

“Look,” he giggled. “I’m not generally in a situation where I have to be wearing pants during the summer. And when I am, I bear through it.”

“Christ, Danny.” You shook your head. “I’m surprised you made it this long.”

When you pulled into the parking lot in front of Yeti, you were thankful that it was fairly late on a weeknight. Only a few people were loitering around inside, and a couple more were heading out with their cups of yogurt. You bounded in, pulling Danny with you despite his groaning. You immediately went to making a mess of three types of chocolate yogurt and every fruity topping you could find, but stopped when your phone rang. Danny curiously looked over your shoulder, two cups of strawberry yogurt in either hand.

“It’s my mom,” you said, a bit confused. “It’s late for her to be calling.”

He put both his cups on the scale and reached for yours. “Go ahead.”

You nodded and handed it to him, accepting the call. “Hey, Mom?”

“Honey, are you at home?”

Your heart sank. “No, I’m out with Dan. What’s wrong?”

Dan looked over at you, sensing the concern in your voice. Your mom hesitated before answering. “It’s your dad, he-”

Oh God, you thought. “What happened?”

“He was in an accident.” Your mother’s voice trembled. “It- he got t-boned. The car flipped-”

You put a hand on Danny’s shoulder, searching for something to ground you. He quickly paid for the yogurt. “Is he okay?”

“He’s still in the ER, hon, we don’t know yet.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Honey, you don’t have to-”

“Mom,” you interrupted, grabbing your yogurt and leaving the store. “I’ll be there tomorrow. I’ll let you know when I’m landing once I book the flight.”

“Okay.” She paused. “Okay, honey. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I love you, Mom. Tell Annie I love her, too.”

“I love you. I will.”

You hung up, putting the yogurt on top of your Civic. Danny had followed you out and hardly got his and Barry’s tubs on the car before you buried yourself in his chest.

“What’s going on? Are you going home?”

You started to feel moisture welling in your eyes. The initial shock was fading, and the realization of the situation was overwhelming you. You had to choke back tears as you explained - Dad, car accident, ER. You had to go home. You had to.

“I’ll go with you,” he said, holding you in his chest.

Rubbing your eyes, you hiccuped. “You have so much going on, Danny-”

He put his hand on the back of your head and kissed your hair. “You shouldn’t have to do this alone. I’ll go with you.”

You slowly nodded as he shepherded you into the passenger seat of your car, swiping your keys and sliding into the driver's seat. He pushed the seat back and started the engine. You clasped your yogurt.

“Fill Suzy in. I’ll talk to Arin. We should have enough episodes for me to disappear for a couple days.”

“You should stay,” you insisted. “You’re working on so many things-”

“Y/n.” He placed a hand on your thigh, making you look up. His eyes met yours. “Do you want to go alone?”

You blinked away tears. “No.”

“Then I’m going.” He drew his hand back and placed it on the back of your seat, pulling out of the parking spot. “Besides, weren’t you just telling me that I work too much?”

You snorted, wiping away tears with the heel of your palm. “Not much of a break.”

“It’s a change of scenery,” he said, heading back to his home. “It’ll be good for both of us. And it’s important for you to be with your family right now.”

“Not exactly the circumstances I wanted you to meet them under,” you choked out. He gave you a gentle smile.

You were stuffing yogurt in your face and all but polished off the tub by the time you two walked in the door. You slam dunked the empty cup into the trash and went to Danny’s room, sitting by your laptop and sorting through flights to BC. Dan lagged behind, delivering froyo and explaining the situation to Barry.

“They don’t know how he’s doing yet,” you heard him mutter. “We’re flying out tomorrow morning.”

“You’re going with her?” Barry sounded surprised. You bit your lip and clicked through Kayak.

Danny exhaled in the other room. “Yeah, I don’t want her going on her own. We still don’t know how serious it is, and if it’s bad-”

“I get it. Do what you gotta, Dan.”

“Thanks, B.”

“Danny?” You called out to him. “You have a passport, right?”

His head poked into the room before anything else. “Uh, yeah. Hang on.” He went to his desk.and started shuffling through his drawers, pulling out the small blue book and tossing it on the bed next to you. “Find some flights?”

You nodded, flipping his passport open and entering his information into the passenger form. “Departure’s at 7:25, hope you don’t mind getting up early.”

He sat next to you, putting a hand on your spine. “Not at all.”

Your phone buzzed, and you immediately picked it up. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

Your sister. “Any news?”

She sighed deeply. “They… They’re not sure. The injuries aren’t as bad as they could be, but he’s not exactly young.”

Gulping, you bit at your thumbnail. “What’s the damage?”

“A couple fractured ribs, his arm is just… It’s broken in three different places, and the impact absolutely shattered his knee… That was the main thing, you know? They were surprised his heart didn’t fail just from the pure shock and pain he endured.”

“Holy shit,” you rubbed your face. “Well, that’s Dad, for ya. Is he awake?”

“No, God, no. They put him under to start fixing shit. He’s in surgery now.”

You nodded. “Okay. Okay, I’m booking the flight now. We’re landing in Vancouver at 10:30 tomorrow morning.”

“We? Is Danny coming?”

“I, uh-” You looked up. He had taken over with entering info on your laptop. “Yeah. I didn’t want to fly alone.”

“Okay. I’ll get Josh to pick you guys up.”

You hummed, recognizing her boyfriend’s name. Fiancee? No, boyfriend still. “I love you guys. Keep me updated.”

“Will do, sister. Love you.”

You were already exhausted. Your face fell into your hands as you took a couple deep breaths. “I need to go home and pack.”

Dan rubbed your back after finishing the application. “I’ll pack a bag real quick and we can go to your place for the night. You’re closer to LAX.”

Nodding, you watched him stand and pull a suitcase small enough to carry on out of his closet.

“Wanna share a bag?” He asked. “I’m not gonna fill this.”

You looked up. You weren’t gonna be bringing much, just clothes and toiletries. You nodded in agreeance and fell backwards onto his pillows.

After Danny shoved a few days worth of clothing into the bag, you stood to get ready to head out. Barry knocked on the door gently, leaning into the room. “You okay, bumpkin?”

You pursed your lips. “I will be once I get out there.”

Barry nodded and opened his arms. You hugged him tightly. “From everything you’ve told us, he’s a fighter. He’ll be okay.”

“Thanks, Baz.”

“Have a safe trip, okay?”

You smiled and nodded. “I’ll send Dan home in a couple days.”

“Hey, woah,” Danny said, zipping his half empty bag closed. “I’m going to accompany you, you can’t send your bodyguard home.”

Snorting, you shuffled out of the room. “Yeah, bodyguard. C’mon, it’s late.”

Barry stood aside as Dan carried the bag to the front door. “Did you call Suzy?”

“Shit,” you shuffled your things into one arm and unlocked your phone. “You drive, I explain?”

He nodded and took your keys. His suitcase and backpack got tossed in the back seat as you found Suzy’s number in your phone. Barry waved you off while the engine started.

It didn’t take long for Suzy to answer. You quickly repeated the situation to her, adding more detail when she asked how serious it was. You confirmed how many episodes of KKG were done already, and that, depending on how long you had to be gone, she might have to edit a couple herself. “I tried to make Danny stay, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“No,” Suzy said. “I’m glad you’re both going. I’ll talk to Arin. Did Dan say anything about episodes?”

“He, uh,” you looked over to him. It was dark out, the only light being street lamps and other cars on the road. He had one hand on the wheel, the opposite arm propped between him and the door, head resting on its hand. He looked over to you when he noticed you pause. “Yeah, he said there should be enough for him to be gone for a little bit.”

Suzy hummed. “They did a session yesterday, right? They’ll be fine. We’ll do some SteamCade slots while you’re gone.”

“Okay.” You were biting your lip raw. “Thank you, Suzy.”

“Of course, you gotta be with your family. I wish your father a speedy recovery.”

“I really appreciate that. I’ll text you when we land.”

She made you promise to keep her updated before hanging up, leaving you in silence as the two of you chugged along the dark road.

Danny finally spoke up. “You should just officially move in with Barry and I. This drive is bullshit.”

You sighed. He’d been pushing the idea at you for a few weeks now. “Maybe.”

He shifted his hands on the wheel and poked at your thigh, expectantly holding his hand open for you to take. You did. He rubbed your knuckles with a thumb. “You stay most nights, anyways,” Dan said, peeking into the rear-view mirror before merging onto the highway.

You hummed and nodded sleepily, tracing his veins with your free hand. “I’ll think about it when we get back.”

“Really?” He giggled. “You must be tired.”

“You’ve torn down my defenses, Avidan.” You looked over and watched a grin spread across his face. “Don’t get too excited, but I’ll think about it.”

“I’ll start clearing room in my closet,” he laughed.

You muttered something about how he seemed confident he could convince you to  come live with him, but it barely made it out of your mouth before you dozed off.

He woke you gently, guiding you up the stairs, bags in tow. When you got in, you began throwing clothes into his suitcase and groaned about how you should shower. Dan made a joke about how he’d like to join you, but the timing seemed off, as you stripped off your layers and went to the bathroom.

Tomorrow. You’d be with your family tomorrow. And… Dan was coming along. Which, honestly, wasn’t something you were expecting to happen for a few more months at least. You scrubbed away sweat and thought about how you had really hoped the circumstances could be different. Thanksgiving, maybe. Your mom would tease you about finding a Jewish boy, your dad would ask Danny about his music, and you’d take selfies with Grimlock toys, shiteating grin on display, just to send to Ross.

But that wasn’t happening. When you got out of the shower, Dan was sitting on your bed in his underwear, clicking away at his laptop again. “You have three seconds to save your progress.”

He knowingly swiped at his keyboard, hitting ctrl+s, before you shut the laptop and put it on your dresser. He smirked. “Time for bed?”

You nodded and pulled the covers out from under him so you could both crawl into bed. You quickly set an alarm for 4:45 the next morning. It wasn't exciting, but it was necessary. When you collapsed into bed, Danny’s arms immediately corralled you into his chest.

“Are you okay, baby?”

You exhaled. “I will be.”

He kissed the top of your head. “So will he.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol


End file.
